


Undying Wish

by overrated_joe



Series: Sometimes It's Better to Take What's Given to You [3]
Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Blood and Gore, Friendship, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Male Frisk, Minor Horror Elements, Older Frisk, Post-Undertale Neutral Route - Empress Undyne Ending, Spoilers - Undertale Neutral Route, Spoilers - Undertale Pacifist Route, Survival, War
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-29
Updated: 2017-04-02
Packaged: 2018-09-13 06:59:17
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 10
Words: 93,110
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9111586
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/overrated_joe/pseuds/overrated_joe
Summary: Too much has been lost. Too much has been taken away. War comes at a high price, and Frisk knows that all too well. But now, he knows a way to bring all that pain to an end. And he's stopping at nothing to do it. Nothing.





	1. Rewind

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Quick note: if you're new here, you should read the first two parts of the series – Falling Apart and Phantom Memories - otherwise this won't make any sense. I assure you it will be worth it! :D

_Act I_

* * *

 

“Frisk, I don’t mean to say we’re lost. But we’re lost.”

The human tried his best to ignore the monster’s statement and unfolded another part of the big map he was holding. He knew for sure they weren’t lost – they were just a bit off-trail, but it wasn’t like he didn’t know where he was.

However, another careful glance at the map made him give a frustrated sigh. That thing wasn’t helping them either. Where did they get it in the first place?

“This doesn’t make any sense.”, he mumbled.

“Dude, just... look around you!”, exclaimed MK, impatient. “The trees here are kinda far from each other, and all the woods we’ve been through were super closed. I hate to break it to you, but somehow we’re getting even _further_ from Ebott.”

Putting the map down with an exasperated move, the human glanced an annoyed look at MK. That was the _last_ thing he wanted to hear. He couldn’t have messed up so badly, he just couldn’t.

He couldn’t afford to make these kinds of mistakes. Not when there was so much at stake.

The forest they were in was indeed very different from the type they were used to explore up until that point. It was much alike the woods that grew in colder regions – the trees had thinner trunks and were farther from each other. During that time of year, they were also leafless, and foliage was scattered across the ground. Frisk would have thought that was a rather beautiful sight – he had always enjoyed autumn – if he wasn’t so stressed out. 

“Don’t say that.”, he said, glancing MK a cold stare. “Look at this map, then. It doesn’t indicate any forest of the kind either.”

“When did this crappy map ever indicated _anything_?”, replied the reptilian monster.

“It’s better than nothing!”

“I have my doubts about it.”

Frisk pressed his hands against his closed eyes and took a deep breath. In moments like those, the best thing to do was to keep cool and think clearly. They had been fine up until that point – what could have gone wrong? He needed to rule out the possibilities.

“Okay, let’s think this through.”, said Frisk, and MK nodded. “When could we possibly have changed our course without even noticing?”

He was sure there wasn’t any – he just wanted MK to say they had been wrong all that time. They weren’t lost. However, the yellow monster looked at Frisk with extreme annoyance and disbelief.

“I’ve told you a hundred times!”, they said, motioning their head for Frisk to pull the map, which he did.

MK bended and picked up a dry stick on the ground – something the human found a bit unusual, but he didn’t made any remarks about it – and used it to point at a town indicated on the map.

“See ‘ere?”, they said, their voice funny because they couldn’t close their mouth. “’en you ‘ade us go around this town ‘ere i’s ‘en we got lost.”

The reptilian monster stared as Frisk looked astonished at the map – spitting the stick from their mouth a few seconds after as if it was no big deal. It was true – the human made them go around that particular town because if they were seen there again they would probably be killed – but how could he have made them turn around _completely_?

Yet, there was no other explanation. Frisk messed that one up. Almost a month worth of traveling lost for nothing.

“We’re lost.”, said the human, defeated. MK sighed.

He had never felt so dumb before in his life. How could that have happened? What made it worse was that they finally had a clear objective – to return to Mt. Ebott. What kept him going was the knowledge that he could fix everything – fix that war, fix all that suffering, fix all the lost lives that were stolen. And suddenly, he was there, all aware that they were further than ever from completing said objective. It seemed like fate itself was mocking him.

And then, in a fit of anger, he turned around and kicked the tree behind him. His foot probably hurt more than the tree, but he didn’t care. He knew he’d regret it later – if he thought rationally he would see he was being childish – but in the moment he didn’t care about it. He needed to redirect that anger towards someone, and there was only one candidate available.

“This is _your_ fault!”, he said, pointing an accusatory finger at MK, who stepped back, outraged.

“ _What_!?”

“If you had told me we were lost before, we wouldn’t be here!”

MK opened his mouth as if to reply, but closed it again, shaking his head dumbfounded  
“Are you serious!?”

“Serious as hell!”, Frisk didn’t even notice he was raising his voice with each word. “I know you didn’t really want to come along and that you thought going back to Mt. Ebott was a stupid plan, but this..! This is sabotage!”

The reptilian monster just stared at Frisk with a confused look, their mouth still half-open as if about to say something that couldn’t be translated into actual words.

“I can’t believe it.”, they said, nodding. “You’ve finally lost it. You’re crazy!”

Seeing red, Frisk approached MK aggressively, clenching his teeth.

“Do you think I didn’t notice?”, he said, every word full of despise. “You think all this ‘reset’ and ‘timeline’ stuff is bullshit, right? You think I’m delusional, right? How do you think that makes me feel, MK? Huh, how!?”

Frisk could see he was actually getting in their nerves, which gave him some sort of perverted satisfaction.

“You know what, screw it!”, they said. “Yeah, I think this stuff is all a fairytale! You are _oh_ , so desperate to fix everything, because _of course_ you can fix everything, that you can’t even separate reality from fantasy anymore!”, they made a mocking grimace and changed their voice in a poor attempt to imitate the human. “' _Look, I’m Frisk! I’m human and I can do everything! Don’t worry, I’m gonna save everyone because I’m such a noble hero!_ ’”

That infantile mockery was the last straw Frisk needed to finally lose what little patience he still had. With a sudden move, he pushed MK away. The monster stumbled backwards, and then looked at the human with an animalistic expression.

“Oh, you asked for it!”, they said.

They charged at Frisk and he, despite being good at dodging, didn’t manage to outsmart that one. MK hit, sending him straight to the ground, making him fall with his back with a loud thud. It hurt a lot, but the human quickly stood up once again. He couldn’t stand feeling so humiliated – and it was even worse when it came from the yellow monster. The two looked at each other with looks of anger and despise. Frisk wasn’t about letting that one go – MK needed to _pay_ for that.

However, when Frisk gave a step forward, MK’s expression suddenly changed, their face turning pale and their eyes showing fear. It was so sudden the human felt all the anger seeping away from his body. However, he noticed the monster wasn’t looking at him, but _behind_ him. Dread filled his heart as he slowly turned around to see what had spooked them so much.

Two humans were a few feet away from them. One of them was a middle-aged man with graying hair, and the other was a younger lady with short brown hair. They both held submachine guns and looked at Frisk and MK with intrigued expressions, as if they were watching two wild animals interacting. The human wondered for how long they had been there without him noticing.

Several seconds passed without no one moving an inch. Frisk’s mind raced – were those two alone or were they part of a larger group? And why weren’t they doing anything? But he didn’t fear for his life – but for MK’s. Frisk was safe: he was human. MK, on the other hand...

And that last thought filled the human with a primal fear that made every cell of his body scream to run away.

He obeyed it.

Before he knew it, he was already at full speed.

“RUN!”, he shouted at the yellow monster, who joined him.

He heard the exclamations from the humans behind, but couldn’t make what they were saying. His legs moved in auto-pilot – he probably would have difficulty stopping. Part of him expected to hear shots, as the humans were armed, but either his mind wasn’t picking up on it or they, for whatever reason, chose not to shoot. However, he knew he was being followed – he could hear the fast-paced “crunches” on the leaves behind them.

How many of them were there? Frisk glanced at his sides, but didn’t see anything – it was almost like being chased by a ghost. He ran with no specific direction in mind – which he was sure he would regret later, but for the moment he was more worried about getting away. And MK...

Wait, where was MK?

With an increasing panic in his heart, which made him almost trip and fall, he noticed the yellow monster wasn’t close to him – they got separated. Where had they gone?

Somehow, the human managed to spot a tree with a larger trunk than the rest of the forest’s average, and ran towards it. Breathless, he pressed his back against it, trying to pant in the most silent way he could manage. It didn’t sound he was being followed anymore, which was a good sign.

_BANG!_

The loud noise made Frisk jump in his place, startled. He felt a sick burning in his stomach. It sounded distant – but not too distant, and that wasn’t good. Worst-case scenarios began to pop up in his brain, one after another.

No... Please, no... They had to be okay. They _had_ to.

Frisk shook his head in an attempt to clear his thoughts. He needed to stay calm in that situation, although that didn’t stop the small tears that formed in his eyes.

Taking his backpack out, he unzipped it and searched furiously for the handgun he kept there. His hands were shaking a little, which only made the task harder than it should be. Why didn’t he always keep that damn thing with himself, anyway?

Nevertheless, he found it. At least he had been careful enough to already keep it with a loaded magazine. He carefully held it with his two hands and pointed it at the ground, wearing his backpack again. Taking a deep breath, he began to walk towards the place that “ _bang_ ” came from.

He walked slowly in an attempt of diminishing the crunchy sound that was made when he stepped on the dried leaves. A cold wind blew through the forest, strong at first, making the human recoil for a while, but it quickly lost its strength, reduced only to a distant howling.

Holding that gun made him nervous. Yes, he had practiced a bit of shooting all by himself, and he could say he was quite comfortable with static targets, though moving, live ones were another completely different story. He could only hope he wouldn’t ever need to do it, but perhaps that hope was about to vanish right there.

Suddenly, he heard the leaves crunching behind him and, quick as a lightning, he turned around to face whoever was behind him, pointing the gun at them.

“Frisk?”

“MK?”

The human pointed the gun down once more as soon as he noticed the figure in front of him was the reptilian monster. It took a while to hit him, but when it did, the human let out a sigh of relief.

MK was fine. He was _alive_.

“Man, when I heard that ‘ _bang_ ’, I... I...”, he said, and he sounded equally relieved.

“Yeah. Me too.”

And just when it seemed everything was okay, Frisk heard more crunching sounds around them. He looked, feeling his heart sink. A group of humans – which included the man and woman they encountered before – had surrounded them. They probably had been nearby, waiting for the right moment to show up.

That behavior made Frisk feel like a helpless prey among a pack of deadly wolves. All the people on the group were armed – mostly with submachine guns, but a couple held simple pistols like he did, and a middle-aged man with brown skin held an assault shotgun.

The human looked around, looking for a way out. Their chasers weren’t pointing their guns at him – yet. He noticed most of them kept their focus on MK, which was only natural, but not comforting in the least.

Almost instinctively, he pointed his handgun at the man who held the shotgun – which turned out not to be the wisest decision, as every person around him, with the exception of the man he targeted, pointed their guns at the human. Someone could cut the tension with a knife, and just some seconds after, Frisk realized what he did was just another poor decision. He didn’t need to have drawn the weapon – he had talked his way out of conflict before, couldn’t he have done the same?

But he could still do it. Even if he started out poorly, he _could_ get him and MK out of that situation, and he was determined to do so.

“Let us go.”, he commanded, his voice surprisingly firm.

Frisk didn’t point the gun down, and kept staring at the man. Something started to sprout in the back of his mind. That guy was... familiar, to say the least. Had they seen each other before?

The man had a look of concern across his face. He raised his hand and motioned for the others to put down their weapons, which they reluctantly did. That was impressive – if they obeyed so quickly, considering the circumstances, they must really trust his commands. Was he their leader?

“Now, now.”, he said. “There’s no need for this, kid. Would you put your gun down, too?”

Frisk clenched his teeth, full of suspicion.

“Why should I? Why did you follow us? Who shot?”

“Hey, it was you who ran away, for starters.”, said another man situated by Frisk’s left – the first one Frisk had met earlier. “Barry was the one who shot – he’s still learning.”, he glanced a look at yet another man opposite to him, who in turn looked down ashamed. “Anyway, we’re not here because of you, we’re here because of that _thing_. We saw you having a struggle.”

They looked at MK, who was behind the human, when they said that. Frisk gave them the coldest look he could manage.

“He’s _not_ a thing.”, he stated, decisively. “He’s with me. He’s my friend.” 

“Your... friend?”

The man looked at his “leader”, who in turn looked at Frisk with a surprised expression, like they had just realized something.

“Wait... you’re... We’ve seen you before!”, he said. “You’re the human who’s been traveling with some monsters, right?”

Another gush of air blew, making some of the dried leaves roll around on the ground. Part of Frisk’s hair covered his eyes, but he quickly shook his head to keep his vision clear. During his practices with the handgun, he learned to imagine a line linking the gun and his target. It made it easier to hit.

The human thought it was weird he was being recognized as “the human who travelled with monsters”... was it _that_ uncommon? Did no one else did that?

“You say it like it’s a big deal.”, he said, coldly.

“Well, excuse me, but it _is_ kind of a big deal.”, the man replied, shaking his head. “I mean, those monsters appeared out of nowhere and started killing humans. To see someone side by side with one of them is a bit odd, under those circumstances.”

Frisk bit his lip. Those people were probably part of one of the many resistance groups that had emerged during that war. Perhaps they had crossed paths in the past – Frisk and his group probably running away from these humans, trying not to be killed and captured. And now, in another strange twist of fate, they were reunited.

“We’ve met two days after the monsters appeared.”, explained Frisk. “He was just trying to survive, like we did. So we joined him.”

“'We’?”, pointed out the man. “Yeah... that’s right... if I recall, you were with more... monsters. Where are they?”

Suddenly, it felt like a golf ball was stuck in Frisk’s throat. The man didn’t know – he couldn’t possibly have known – but he brought up a wound that hadn’t quite healed. Yes, the human and MK were traveling with two other monsters. Two skeleton brothers. But they...

Frisk didn’t even notice he wasn’t pointing the gun at the man anymore. He looked at the ground.

“I... see.”, simply said the man, clearly uncomfortable. “I’m sorry.”

Frisk could feel the glances of the other people, and it annoyed him. None of those people actually cared about it – he didn’t need their pity.

“Listen...”, said the man, approaching. Frisk looked up. “You seem to be quite young, and you’ve been through a lot. I wanna know your story. Come with us. We have a camp on an abandoned prison not far from here. We can take you there.”

Now that was an unexpected outcome. The human heard an uncomfortable movement behind him, and glanced at MK. The reptilian monster shrugged, as if to say “your call”, but it was clear they were not at ease with the idea. The other humans didn’t seem to be taking it any better.

“I’m... not sure.”, replied Frisk. “Your group doesn’t seem to be fond of this idea, either. It will be the best for everyone if we simply part ways now.”

“I understand you’re afraid. But rest assured no one will harm you, or your friend, under my watch. I give you my word.”

Frisk shifted his weight on his feet, but his mind was already thinking about the future. Maybe it would be good to tag along with that group, but he shouldn’t take that decision alone. The last time he gave directions without asking for MK’s opinion got them lost, and he wasn’t thinking on making the same mistake again.

“We... need to talk.” stated Frisk, looking at the yellow monster, who gave a nervous nod. The man glanced a decisive look at everyone on his group.

“Take your time... we need to talk as well.”

Motioning his head for them to walk a bit further so they wouldn’t be listened, Frisk and MK got out of the circle – the people looking at them, some curious, some suspicious. The human counted eight in that group, but there were probably more in their camp.

“How does an abandoned prison sound?”, asked Frisk as soon as they made some distance. The human watched as the other group discussed over something, their voices in a low tone.

“I don’t know, man...”, they said, uncomfortable. “What does that guy want with you, anyway? It sounds like a trap to me.”

Frisk glanced at the reptilian monster and then at the man, an odd feeling passing through him. He had seen that man – the leader of the group – before, and it wasn’t during a fight or anything of the sort.

“I think he senses...”, began Frisk, slowly looking back at MK. “He senses that I know more than it appears. He wants to know about it.”

MK looked at the man. Some people glanced back, and the monster quickly avoided the look.

“Yeah, he’s weird.”, they said. “Would you tell him? About falling in the Underground six years ago? And the resets?”

“Maybe not everything, but perhaps saying the right things can make us a miracle.”, explained Frisk, methodically. “It’s possible they have food, supplies... and maybe even vehicles.”

MK’s expression lit up when he heard the last word.

“Vehicles? We could...”

“Yeah... Mt. Ebott wouldn’t be so far away now, would it?”

The reptilian monster kicked a bunch of leaves that were under his feet, and watched them fall to the ground again, thinking. He then looked at Frisk, resigned.

“Fine. It’s not like we know where we are anyway, so this is our best bet.”, he said. “I hope that guy stays true to his promise, though.”

Frisk nodded, energetic. They were presented a chance – it was better to take it, even though they would need to be careful.

“Alright.”, said the human, turning around and walking towards the group. “Let’s do this.”

The people were involved in a heated discussion that began to die out as soon as Frisk and MK approached. Everyone looked at them, and Frisk decisively stared at their leader, who seemed earnest. 

“We decided to go with you.”, he announced. “But we’ll be keeping an eye out on you.”, he quickly added.

“Yeah, and we’ll be keeping an eye out on _you_.”, replied the man, his expression serious. However, a second later he winked and offered a handshake. “Welcome abroad, kid. The name’s Leonard Johnson.”

Frisk looked at the hand for a while before firmly grasping and shaking it.

“Frisk.”, he replied simplistically. “This is MK.”, he complemented, indicating the reptilian monster with his head.

“Nice to meet you, MK.”, Leonard greeted. MK nodded. “Well, let’s go back to the camp, then. You two stay in the middle with Chris and Heather.”

“C’mon.”, said a woman, touching Frisk’s shoulder. Noticing she was the woman that saw him and MK fighting, he went with her, and the yellow monster followed them closely.

With that, the group began to walk through the forest, making their way back to the camp. Leonard lead the way, and two other people (which included the “trigger-happy” Barry) followed just behind him. Then, Frisk and MK walked between Chris and Heather. Finally, three other people closed the line.

In the beginning, it seemed nobody was really willing to talk about anything. Occasionally the people right in front of Frisk and MK would glance back at them – of course, suspicion was not off the table yet. It made the human slightly nervous, but for the moment he’d have to deal with it.

As the light of the day slowly started being replaced by the twilight, giving the forest an eerie feeling, Frisk began to think maybe that “camp” wasn’t as close as Leonard made them believe earlier. They had been walking for more than an hour, but no one was thinking about stopping. Those people were certainly determined. The human thought asking about how long they still had to walk to reach their destination, but dismissed the idea as he thought it would probably sound too childish.

Soon enough, people began to talk in whispers. Frisk couldn’t exactly make any sense of what they were talking about, but it wasn’t like he was actually trying to, anyway. The low whispers made it so the human barely noticed when the man that walked next to him – Chris – began to hum a little tune.

Frisk stared at him. The tune was cheerful and kind of goofy. It inevitably reminded him of Papyrus – and that he had no idea of what happened to the taller skeleton. He tried not to think too much about the skeleton brothers – doing so felt like thrusting a knife into his heart – but he couldn’t help but remember Papyrus and their positive, trusting attitude. At least, that was how Frisk remembered them, although he knew that probably had changed. He missed them – things seemed easier than they actually were when they were around. He wondered where they were and if they thought about the human and MK – and if they were even alive, for starters.

“What? Something on my face?”, said Chris, noticing Frisk had been staring.

The human was taken by surprise by the question and quickly shook his head.

“N-no. Sorry.”

“Huh, it’s okay. I bet you were just impressed by my singing skills.”

Frisk thought about pointing out that “humming” was very different from “singing”, but he wasn’t really in the mood for that type of conversation.

“Sure.”

To Frisk’s disappointment, Chris didn’t seem to be willing to let the conversation drop.

“Geez, just trying to lighten up the mood! How old are you, kid?”

“17.”

“Whoa, you’re _young_!”, said the older man, sounding genuinely impressed. “You could, you know, have a happier expression. You don’t look very juvenile for a teenager.”

The human let out an impatient sigh. He _definitely_ wasn’t ready for that conversation. He tried to remain silent in the hopes Chris would give up, but he didn’t seem to be so lucky.

“Your name is Frisk, right?”, they continued. “Heh, you don’t look very ‘ _frisky_ ’, though.”

“What’s _that_ even supposed to mean?”, replied the human, failing to keep quiet. He mentally facepalmed himself. 

“God, leave the kid alone, Chris.”, said the woman next to MK, Heather, glancing the man a reprehensive look. “Nobody deserves your stupid puns.”

Unfortunately, Chris wasn’t bothered by the comment – in fact, it seemed to have fueled him with some sort of determination. The _worst_ kind of determination.

“Well, what about some knock-knock jokes, then? Everybody loves knock-knock jokes!”

“No, _you_ love knock-knock jokes.”, pointed Heather, rolling her eyes.

“Knock-knock!”

“Chris, no.”

“Knock-knock.”

“You’re such a child!”, she exclaimed. “How were you in the army?”

“Knock. Knock.”, repeated Chris, decisive.

Frisk and MK looked at each other, unsure of what to do. It felt like they were in the middle of a crossfire – a very peculiar one, at that.

“ _Fine_. Who’s there?”, said Heather, defeated. From the look in her eyes, Frisk deduced she thought it was better to get it over soon.

“Nana.”

“Nana who?”

“Nana your business, that’s who!”

Chris laughed in a moderate, low tone, though it seemed he was having a hard time controlling himself – it was clear he thought the joke was the funniest thing on Earth. Heather sighed. Frisk, however, didn’t feel embarrassed like he used to when he heard knock-knock jokes – and he had heard a lot of knock-knock jokes during the past months. And for that very same reason, he felt a mixture of discomfort and...

“Alright, alright.”, said Chris as soon as he stopped laughing. “Knock-knock.”

“Oh god, there’s _more_!?”, asked Heather, exasperated.

“Knock-knock.”

If looks could kill, Chris would have fallen dead in his spot. Instead, he kept looking expectantly at Heather, who stared at him impatiently. 

“Who’s. There.”, she said through gritted teeth.

“Impatient cow.”

Heather took a while to answer, filling the air with a confused, comic feeling.

“Impatient co-”

“MOO!”

Chris burst out laughing – a lot less held back this time – and some other people (including the leader, Leonard) giggled a little too. Heather shook her head in a dismissive way. In any way, Chris’ jokes had an effect of lighting up the mood for everyone, which was an important thing considering the circumstances.

Except for Frisk. Had it been any other way, he’d have given a little laugh or two, or perhaps reacted the same way as Heather, but that time, it was different. The jokes reminded him too much of _them_. And it hurt.

Those jokes weren’t funny anymore.

* * *

 

When they found the highway, Frisk was genuinely impressed. He didn’t know they had been close to one as the map didn’t show it. Perhaps that map would be better in a trash bin – how had they managed to keep using it during the past months?

They followed the highway until it split into a discreet, sinuous path they took. Frisk could feel everyone was tired, which was why nobody was saying anything. However, from their looks, he reckoned they were really close to the camp.

About half an hour later, Frisk spotted the building, and his jaw dropped.

The place was once a really big prison – and from what the human remembered, quite famous too, being the main jail from the region. Was it abandoned? What happened to the ones who were confined there? Did they break free or were they killed?

Those questions swirled in his head as they approached. The sky wasn’t fully dark yet, but it was already a bit difficult to see. They stopped by the entrance gates and it took Frisk a while to notice someone was coming to get them open. It looked like it was young woman.

Chris gave a low whistle.

“I see she did a good job watching the camp over.”

Frisk looked at him, slightly confused.

“She was _alone_ here?”, he asked, having a hard time believing they had trusted their camp – that enormous prison’s safety – to just one person.

“Oh, you wouldn’t be surprised if you knew her.”, stated the older man. “Eileen is a tough girl, that’s for sure. I bet you’ll get along _reeeeally_ well.”

There was a slight hint on sarcasm on his voice that Frisk didn’t bother pressing on.

The girl opened the gates, and had her eyes set on Leonard. In the second it took for her to run towards him, Frisk immediately knew she was his daughter – their facial features were strikingly similar. The human thought she was going to hug him, or perhaps say she was relieved they had finally come back.

“What the hell, dad!?”

She then walked right in front of Frisk and MK, looking them both from top to bottom, utterly scandalized. The human reckoned she was about the same age as him.

“What were you _thinking_!?”, she exclaimed, looking back at her father.

“Calm down, Leen.”, he replied, serene. “They’re survivors, like...”

“Bullshit!”, she interrupted. “You... I... God, I can’t believe you brought a _monster_ here!”

Frisk looked at MK, expecting to see them upset by that reaction, but they were with their jaw open in a silly way, their eyes glued on the girl.

“Eileen, please.”, asked Leonard. “This is the human we used to talk about all the time. He’s the boy we’ve seen traveling with the monsters.”

“Yeah? So _what_!?”, she replied. “Dad, have you forgotten? What if they are not human at all?”

Frisk noticed that comment didn’t bother him, when it felt it should. He payed it no mind.

“Oh, I assure you they’re _very_ human, sweetie.”, he stated, opening a little smile and glancing at Frisk. “I remember him. He’s from our hometown. I saved him from some monsters on the same night they appeared.”

It was like all the air had left Frisk’s lungs when the information hit him. Of course, he had seen Leonard way back then. They saved him from a group of monsters who had attacked him in the night the monsters broke free and began that war. The human’s face must had shown crystal clear signs of shock, because the leader gave a little chuckle.

Eileen, however, didn’t seem to be that impressed, still looking at him and MK full of suspicion. In a sense, she wasn’t that different from the others of the group, but her reaction was way more extreme.

“Anyway, let’s discuss things over inside.”, said Leonard, waving his hand in a sign for the group to follow him. MK kept in place with their jaw still open, and Frisk had to poke them for them to snap out of it and follow the group.

They entered the gates – the three people behind Frisk closing them as they passed through. They walked across the “courtyard”, and the human’s heart leaped when he saw two vehicles parked there – two minivans, no least. Maybe, _just_ maybe, they could use them to go back to Mt. Ebott.

Having never been into a prison before, Frisk was half-expecting to enter a lobby, but of course a jail wouldn’t bother with that. Instead, everyone gathered in a long corridor. Someone turned on the lights, and the human had to blink a few times to get used to the sudden clarity. Once his vision accustomed with it, he could get a clear view of his surroundings.

The walls were gray, and the paint was cracked and peeled on various spots. It seemed the place hadn’t been kept very clean or tidy for a while – and Frisk had doubts if it ever was. There was a window on the left wall, nearby the entrance that gave view to the adjacent room (where officers would check the inmate’s belongings, Frisk wondered?) and its door was just next to it. On the right side there was another plain gray door that the human had no clue where it could lead. An iron double white door stood by the end of the corridor.

“Well, welcome to our ‘camp’!”, said Chris, his cheerfulness almost inappropriate in that place. “I love telling my jokes here. I always have such a captive audience!”

“Alright Chris, that’s quite enough.”, said Leonard, although he was smiling.

“How did you find this place?”, asked Frisk, curious.

“We just stumbled upon it. It was already abandoned.”, explained Heather. “It turns out jails are great places to set camp. They’re fortified and provide great protection against potential threats.”

“Yeah, except when we open the front door so the threat can come in.”, stated Eileen, looking fiercely at Frisk and MK.

“Eileen...”, warned Leonard.

She payed no mind to her father and kept staring at the human and the monster, trying to intimidate them, but Frisk simply looked back with the most determined look he could manage. MK, on the other hand, looked to the ground, uncomfortable.

“Anyway, we’ll have a nice, long talk tomorrow, Frisk, so you can ask all your questions then.”, intervened Leonard. “But for now, we’re all tired, so I think we should call it a day. Heather, can you find them a place to stay?”

“Sure thing.”

Frisk wondered if they were talking about the prison cells, and as if reading his mind, the leader immediately spoke.

“Don’t worry, it’s not a cell. But it doesn’t mean it won’t ever be.”

He winked when he said that, but Frisk caught the hint of a real warning behind that warm, playful tone. They needed to be good, or else...

“Let’s go, you two.”, called Heather, opening the door on the right, which lead to a set of stairs.

Frisk and MK followed her, while the rest of the group discussed about the night watch. The human thought about offering to start it, but held himself back. He knew they wouldn’t accept it – they didn’t trust him, not completely at least. As they walked silently through the corridors, their steps echoing in the halls, he wondered what Leonard really wanted to know about him. The human had sensed the leader suspected he knew a lot more about monsters and the situation than it appeared, but even then, why did they care about such thing? Was it only because of irresistible curiosity?

When the human noticed, they were already crossing a set of small rooms that probably used to be the guards bedrooms when the prison was working. Heather looked through a couple of them before stopping at one that had two beds next to each other. Frisk and MK stepped inside.

It was a rather depressing bedroom. It had two small windows by its up corners – but that didn’t make those four gray walls look any less like a claustrophobic box. The walls had cracks and moisture spots caused by water infiltration. In a sense, the only thing that made it better than a prison cell were the beds – that were probably only a tiny bit more comfortable than the prisoners beds.

But Frisk didn’t complain. There were a lot worse places to spend the night – and he knew that by experience.

“Well, there you go.”, said Heather, smiling kindly. “If you need anything, just shout or something. We’ll bring the rations for you, so don’t worry.”

“Thanks.”, replied Frisk, smiling back. “But don’t sweat about the rations, MK and I have our own.”

“Oh, that’s good!”, she said, nodding. “Well, I’m going then. Just hope I don’t have to do the night shift with Chris again...”

Giving a small goodbye wave, she headed out of the room, leaving Frisk and MK alone. The human dropped his backpack, letting it fall to the floor with a thud, and sat on the bed, which made a squeaking sound. Oddly enough, that reminded him of his old bed at the orphanage. MK sat on the other one, and by their expression it was clear they thought that wasn’t the most comfortable thing in the world, either.

“Man, what a weird day, huh?”, they stated.

Frisk nodded, smiling. After everything, he was glad the yellow monster was there with him – if not for them, he would probably be dead already.

And then, he felt a sting in his heart – something that made the human look down, ashamed. He knew all too well what it was: remorse. He knew he didn’t treat MK very well earlier that day, and he knew the monster, who had always been so loyal to him, didn’t deserve such treatment. Frisk clenched his fists, uncomfortable.

“Uh... so...”, he said, clearing his throat and looking at the reptilian monster. “I’m sorry... for earlier... I shouldn’t have yelled at you, or pushed you. It wasn’t your fault we got lost. I was dumb. Anyway...”, he looked to the side, thinking how it was difficult to apologize when he actually recognized he had been wrong. “Sorry.”

“Hey, cut it out!”, they replied, giving a shy smile. “I’m sorry too. I said some nasty things earlier as well. I don’t think you’re crazy. I was... just trying to get on your nerves, I guess?”

Frisk gave a dry laugh.

“I know the feeling. It’s stupid, right?”

“Yeah.”

“You’re a better friend than I deserve.”

The weight of his words lingered in the air for a while.

“Dude, no...”, said MK, shaking his head. “Listen, everybody makes mistakes. You don’t need to put yourself so low every time you do something wrong. You apologized, I apologized, and we’re fine, okay?"

He gave a supportive smile, and Frisk couldn’t help but smile back. 

“Okay.”

They stood there for a while in silence. The human felt strangely lighthearted – yes, apologizing felt good, like lifting a weight from his shoulders. In that moment, he knew that, despite everything, they were fine.

“But...”

He looked at the yellow monster, who in turn was gazing at the ground with a thoughtful expression.

“Frisk... do you really think resetting is the right thing to do?”

They looked back at Frisk. The human, in turn, thought that type of question would just annoy him, but strangely enough, it just made him slightly surprised. And yet...

“Of course I think it’s the right thing to do.”, he replied firmly. “I wouldn’t be pursuing it if I didn’t think so.”

MK rubbed his feet on the ground in an uncomfortable manner.

“Even then, are you not... like, scared? Are you really willing to just _erase_ six years of your life just like that?”

“I’m scared as hell.”

Feelings that couldn’t be quite translated into words passed through him, and it made him confused. Those six years after his journey in the Underground were spent with him thinking he went insane, being scolded by Mrs. Magda and hanging out with bad company. Drinking. Smoking. It wasn’t like anything good had happened.

Then why was he so scared?

“But I know...”, he continued. “This reset I want to do is for the best. My... wish to do it is stronger than any fear I have, because I know everyone will be happier. I’ll be happier too.”

MK looked up, and their expression was difficult to read. They could be agreeing with him, or not. Most likely, they were just scared, too. The room was filled with an empathic silence, and Frisk was grateful for it. No matter what was their opinion, he was sure they understood the human’s point like no one else ever could.

“Good. Yeah, good.”. they said, not looking at anything in particular. “So, I saw the vehicles outside. What’s your crappy plan this time?”

To be honest, Frisk had not really given a thought about that. He considered the fact Leonard had actually been really nice to him and MK, and that maybe...

“We can just ask for it.”

MK raised his eyebrows (or the place where his eyebrows would normally be if he had any) in a clear display of surprise, and Frisk gave an annoyed sigh. Did they think he was going to suggest to _steal_ it? What kind of person did they think he was?

“But how?”, they asked.

“Leonard said tomorrow I can ask all the questions I want.”, the human explained. “But I think he’s also going to ask _his_ questions, then. If I convince them going to Mt. Ebott is a good idea, they may even want to come with us. And it would be nice to have a large group for a change.”

MK nodded slowly, understanding the logic.

“Right. But will you tell them about the...”, he began, looking at the door. “Uh...”

Frisk blinked for a moment, unsure of why MK stopped asking the question, but then looked at the door too. That girl, Eileen, stood there, looking suspiciously at the two. A burning feeling passed through the human’s throat. Had she simply appeared there, or had she been eavesdropping that whole time?

“Um, h-”

“Don’t even bother.”, she said, and Frisk closed his mouth. “I’m just passing by to give you a warning. My father might think you are okay, but, human or not, I don’t trust you. Actually, other people in the group don’t trust you either, but they believe in my father’s judgement. But I know better.”

She looked straight into Frisk’s eyes so fiercely it was almost as if she could see his soul. The human didn’t like the way she spoke to him, and every time she said something he became less and less fond of her. Didn’t she have anything better to do?

“Oh, I’m _so_ sorry about that.”, said Frisk, dryly. “What can we do for you?”

“I’d tell you to leave, but my father wouldn’t allow that.”, she replied, rolling her eyes. “Just know I’ll be keeping an eye out on you. If you stray from the line _ever_ so slightly...”

She didn’t complete the sentence, but the message was given. With a quick turn, she exited the room, and Frisk heard the sounds of her footsteps getting progressively distant. After some seconds, he stood up from his bed and walked to the bedroom’s entrance, checking the corridor to see if she really had left.

“Can you _believe_ it?”, he said, still looking at the corridor.

“Yeah, man.”, replied MK. “She’s so..!”

“Yeah... _so_..!”

“Cool!”

“Rude!”

Frisk immediately looked back at MK, his face scrunched up in disbelief. The yellow monster stared at him, their mouth half-open, regretting what they had just said.

“ _Really_ , MK?”, asked Frisk, a mocking grin starting to plaster across his face.

The reptilian monster closed his mouth, refusing to speak. The region around his cheeks got a darker shade of yellow, and Frisk noticed that was what happened when he blushed.

That opportunity couldn’t be allowed to pass.

“ _Oww_ , don’t worry MK.”, the human said, winking. “I won’t make fun of your crushes.”

“She’s not my crush!”

The human simply stared at them, his wide grin not faltering for a second.

“C-cut it out, man!”, complained the yellow monster, breaking the eye contact.

Frisk gave a genuine laugh while he laid down on his bed, his fingers intertwined on the back of his head.

“Okay, okay...”, he said.

They stood in silence for a while before a funny, tingling sensation passed through Frisk’s body. Oh, he simply _had_ to do that. He hummed a little tune for a while before finally adding some “lyrics” to it.

“‘ _Eileen and MK, sitting in a tree, k_ -’”

“STOP!”

* * *

 

The lights were out, and MK snored soundly on the other bed, deep in slumber. Frisk too, was slowly drafting towards sleep when a little detail from a not-so-distant memory sprouted on his mind. 

He jolted up with his heart racing and his stomach contorting.

No, it _had_ to be a coincidence. It just couldn’t...

“MK!”, he whispered, and as it didn’t wake the yellow monster up, the human got up and poked MK until they began to shift sides. “MK!”

“Wha... what?”, they replied, barely conscious.

Frisk’s breathing was so fast it took a while for him to actually be able to form the words.

“Leonard Johnson.”, he finally said. “The leader’s name is Leonard Johnson! _Leo J_!”

MK looked drowsily at the nervous wreck of a human before him for a while, clearly not understanding what was so important about that. But then, the information sunk in, and they remembered. Their expression became a shocked one.

“Oh my god.”, they said, sitting up on the bed. “It _can’t_ be them. If it’s them, they’ll never want to go back to Mt. Ebott!”

Deep down, Frisk had the hope it was all a coincidence, but everything was matching up perfectly. The name, the fact they recognized the human’s group from when they crossed a town...

With his heart sinking, he sat on the bed, covering his face with his hands and taking a deep breath to calm himself down.

“What do we do?”, asked MK in a hopeless tone.

Frisk wished he had the answer to that. For a moment, the way back to Mt. Ebott seemed as easy as speaking a couple of words. But now, things have taken a turn for the worse.

Because those people weren’t any regular group of survivors. They weren’t simply trying to get to the next day alive and well. No – unlike other groups, they had a clear objective in mind.

They were after Undyne.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, it's been two months since I posted Phantom Memories... I guess I'm not good with promises :P.  
> In my defense, I had exams and had to deal with some personal problems in the beginning of December, so that probably played a part on this fic's delay.  
> Anyway, I hope you enjoy the first act of the final part of the series! See you in the end of chapter four! :)


	2. Polaroids and Keys

It wasn’t a quiet night – neither to Frisk, nor to MK. The human knew he wasn’t the only one awake in the room because nobody coughs and sighs so often when they are asleep. 

As for him, he couldn’t get to sleep because of the billions of thoughts that crossed his head. He had joined the human group in the hopes of getting back to Mt. Ebott faster – but considering who those people were, it was unlikely that would happen. Not when they were chasing Undyne, who they thought was located on the other side of the region.

Sometimes, Frisk had the impression he had fallen asleep for a brief time before jolting up awake again. He was tired, but his mind was busy with anticipation for the next morning. Leonard wanted to know his story. Did the fact they were after Undyne change what Frisk could and couldn’t tell? The human wished he could think rationally on the matter, but his tiredness allied with the uneasiness of the situation made his logic go in circles. One time, he attempted talking to MK, but as he only got drowsy groans in response, he gave up on the idea.

When the first rays of sun began pouring through the small windows of the room, Frisk knew he wouldn’t be looking too good for that day. He had slept maybe two hours at best. 

He couldn’t tell how much time passed then, but eventually Chris appeared by their door, calling them for “breakfast”. Apparently the night shift had ended with him – evidenced by the bags under his eyes, but he still managed to look cheerful, and Frisk felt a tiny bit of envy for that. The human looked at MK, who didn’t seem very rested either. The two looked at each other in a sort of silent agreement. 

“You two don’t look so hot today, eh?”, commented Chris as they walked through a corridor, glancing back at them. “How did this happen? I mean, I don’t wanna make you feel bad or anything, but you were the only ones who could sleep throughout all night!”

Frisk glanced quickly at MK, feeling a bit dizzy. They had their eyes squinted in a futile attempt to protect it from the morning sun that entered through the barred windows.

“Um... we’re okay. Who looks good in the morning, anyway?”, replied the yellow monster, giving a nervous laugh. Frisk suppressed a yawn.

“Huh, y’know what, that’s actually a good point.”, agreed Chris, sounding sincerely convinced.

Eventually, they reached their destination. Chris opened a door that led to a small meeting room – and everybody was already there. They were all sat by a round table, eating cookies and cereal bars – which was already becoming a rare commodity in that war. All of them complimented Frisk and MK when they entered with either a wave or a motion with the head, except Eileen, who simply gave them a cold stare.

“Catch!”, said Heather, tossing a pack of cookies to Frisk. He mumbled some thanks in return, and his voice sounded hoarse.

They ate in silence, and the human shared the food with the yellow monster. Frisk wasn’t hungry – in fact, the tiny pieces of the cookies felt like they were swirling menacingly inside his upset stomach – but he forced himself to eat as much as he could so that his anxiety wouldn’t betray him. MK at least seemed a lot more eager towards the food.

“Aren’t you gonna sit?”, asked Leonard, genuinely curious.

“No thanks. We’re cool.”, the human quickly replied.

The truth was Frisk felt that if he sat on any kind of surface he’d sleep, and he wasn’t willing to pass such an impression for the rest of the group.

“Well, your call.”, said Leonard, shrugging before sitting more upright in the chair. Frisk understood enough about body language to know that meant they were about to deal with the real business. “Anyway, yesterday I promised you could ask all your questions. So, here I am. I’m willing to answer them, as long as I have an answer, of course.”

They gave a kind smile, and Frisk finally swallowed the pulp inside his mouth – and it sure took its time passing through his throat. After that sickening feeling, he realized he had to ask something quickly. He needed some sort of confirmation about what he had thought about those people, but where could he start that subject without raising suspicions?

“How long have you been here?”, he finally asked, deciding to play safe.

“About a week, give or take. We try to measure time here, but that’s not exactly easy.”, replied Leonard. “We don’t intend on staying here for long, though.”

That wasn’t good.

“Why?”

Leonard shifted a bit on the chair, glancing uncomfortable looks at everybody in the room. The people looked at each other, thinking about the same thing: “ _should they know_ ”? Meanwhile, Eileen kept staring at Frisk with that eternal suspicion. It made the human feel nervous – it was almost like she was analyzing him, aware of every twitch or stutter on his voice. He felt he’d need to be _really_ careful when handling that subject.

“We... have a plan.”, began Leonard. “We’re after the monsters’ empress. Their queen.”

Frisk tried to make a surprised face at that statement, but he wasn’t sure if it looked convincing. However, the dread that had been lingering in the air installed with full force within his heart with that confirmation. He wasn’t surprised by any means, but he would be lying if he said he didn’t have any hope those people were just a regular group of survivors.

“Why would you do such a thing?”, asked Frisk, feeling a bit stupid since he already knew the answer.

Leonard looked gloomily at him.

“To kill her.”

Those were simply three words, but their effect on the room was immediately felt. People looked more somber – even Chris, who always smiled, looked down. However, the look in their eyes showed Frisk they weren’t thinking on giving up on that plan. He knew that look – the look of determination – too well to simply mistake it.

“We believe...”, they continued. “We believe all this might end if she’s dead.”

“How does that make you feel?”

Everyone looked at Eileen, who had asked the question. Her focus was on MK – and although the look in her eyes was still fierce and suspicious, Frisk could feel a hint of genuine curiosity in her words. The yellow monster slowly opened his mouth, taken aback by the sudden question.

“Weird.”, he finally said. “I mean... I’m not gonna lie, she was kinda my hero back in the Underground. It’s... ugh, I don’t know...”

Eileen jolted up from her chair, slamming her hands on the desk, and MK jumped on the spot.

“ _Underground_?”, she repeated, looking straight into his eyes. “' _The humans sealed the monsters underground with a magical spell_ ’. You can’t possibly be saying... it’s true?”

“It _is_ true.”

It was Frisk’s turn to be looked at. He took a deep breath. Those people were after Undyne, but he knew he still had a chance of convincing them to go where he wanted to.

“The Underground is a real place.”, the human explained. “It’s right beneath us, but very few people know about it. The entrance is at Mt. Ebott.”

“Mt. Ebott? You mean _the_ Mt. Ebott?”, asked Leonard, crossing his arms. “Near our hometown?”

Frisk nodded, and before he knew it he was walking at a slow pace around the table, deep in thought. He needed to be careful when handling that matter, but there was no stopping it.

“‘ _Those who climb the mountain..._ ’”, he quoted. “‘ _Never return_.’ There was a reason this rumor started in the first place. There was a reason Mt. Ebott was given such a mystifying and legendary title. The entrance to the Underground – a whole new world full of fantastic beings – was right there, after all.”

He looked at the people. As expected, most of them had expressions of shock and surprise – typical of those who had never heard of such stories. Leonard and Eileen, on the other hand, had clarified looks, like Frisk had just added new information over something they already knew.

“And how do you know all that?”, inquired Leonard, eager to know more.

That was it. That was the big question Frisk knew that, sooner or later, would be asked. And there was only one possible answer.

“I fell down there.”

The human wasn’t facing any of them when he said that, but could feel their stares – curious, intrigued. Judging.

“You... fell?” asked Eileen, as if she hadn’t heard it right.

He looked at her and nodded.

“When I was ten, I climbed Mt. Ebott, because...”, he began, passing his hand on his hair. “Well, I don’t remember why. Anyway, there was a cave there, with that big, weird hole. I tripped. I fell. I was in the Underground.”

Frisk began walking again as memories from his first time in the Underground flooded back into his head. Toriel saving him in the Ruins. Walking around in Snowdin. Running away from Undyne.

And then, everything was lost because of his decisions. He remembered... he had worked so hard to save everyone, to give everyone the happy ending they deserved, to just throw it all away in the end. The only thing he couldn’t remember was _why_ he reset after he broke the barrier and brought the monsters to the surface.

And to be honest, he was terrified of what the answer could be.

“But...”, he continued. “Most monsters were actually really nice to me. Even when they attacked me, it was more because of curiosity than actual intent to harm. Of course, there were monsters who actively tried to hurt me, but those were few. In the end, I managed to escape and came back to the surface.”

Each person had a different look after Frisk told them that. Pensive, shocked... two of them seemed skeptical about all that – and to be honest, the human couldn’t blame them.

“Wow... just... whoa...”, said Heather, looking somewhat disturbed.

“That’s... quite a story, kid.”, commented Chris, giving a nervous laugh.

“I’m telling the truth.”, stated Frisk, and he was glad to notice that the sincerity in his words were hearable. “It’s hard to believe, I know, but... I’m not the only one to have fallen down there. I just happened to be the first to actually come back to tell the story.”

He couldn’t help but shiver with his words – unpleasant, dreadful memories filling his head once again. The seven coffins he found near the throne room – the first one empty, as if specially made for him, and at the same time belonging to someone else entirely. Had he died in the Underground, would that war have began six years earlier? Would Asgore actually have carried on with their plan?

A long silence filled the room as everyone thought about how serious the human’s statement was, until Leonard decided to break it.

“I still don’t understand what happened... what happened for them to leave the Underground and start this war?”

Frisk opened his mouth, but quickly closed it again. He couldn’t tell everything – that he had killed Toriel and that Asgore’s death was also indirectly his fault, giving a reason for a massive wave of misanthropy to wash over the Underground. He looked at MK, who probably thought the same thing, seeking help.

“Uh... our king...”, intervened the yellow monster. “He passed away shortly after Frisk got back to the surface. As the queen had already been dead for... sometime, the head of the Royal Guard, Undyne, took the throne. She’s the one who waged this war, as a revenge for the first war that got monsters trapped in the Underground.”

“I see... but why now? Why not earlier?”, commented Leonard, looking to the ground with a pensive expression.

“Because of the barrier. The one the humans created with the ‘magical spell’ during the first war.”, explained MK. “Our Royal Scientist found a way to break it down, and that was how we escaped the Underground.”

Frisk nodded, relieved. That story had been convincing enough. They weren’t technically lying – just twisting little details from the truth to benefit them. Maybe it wasn’t the most righteous thing in the world, but it was a necessity in the current situation.

And that was it. All that needed to be explained had been explained – the moment had come for the strike.

“We need to go back to Mt. Ebott.”

As expected, everyone looked at him in confusion.

“And why would we do that?”, asked Eileen.

“The Underground.”, the human simply replied. “There’s something there that can help us stop this war.”

All of them had intrigued expressions. Chris and Leonard looked at each other, the former giving a shrug.

“That’s cool.”

“Wait wait wait, you’re being pretty vague there.”, noticed Eileen. “What’s ‘ _something_ ’? It’s like a... weapon of sorts? Something we can use to take down the empress?”

Frisk felt his mouth dry. What could he say? He was sure he couldn’t tell them about the resets and timelines – they would just laugh it off and the opportunity to go to Mt. Ebott would be wasted. However, he needed to say something convincing. And quick.

“Yeah...”, he slowly said as his mind frantically tried to make an answer up. “It’s a weapon that can take out Undyne. I honestly don’t know what it is, but I... I know it’s there.”

Frisk began regretting what he said as soon as he finished it. He cursed himself in his mind. A weapon? That was a good one. Just when MK managed to explain everything in the best way they could, he came up with that miserable lie. The people around the table looked at each other, talking – and the sounds of parallel discussions filled the room.

“What could this weapon be?”

“I don’t know, but I bet it’s not worth the journey!”

“Kid doesn’t seem to be lying...”

“Well, yeah, but we can’t afford the risk.”

“Is it like a gun or something?”

“Oh! Maybe it’s a sword!”

“Chris, for the love of god, _shut up_!”

“Everyone, silence!”, commanded Leonard, his voice louder than usual. The chatter began to die until the room became silent once more. He then looked at Frisk. “Kid, are you _sure_ you don’t know anything else about this weapon? At all?”

The human swallowed, trying to think an answer – however, the only things that came to his mind were ridiculous, over-the-top ideas of weapons. It didn’t help his mind was working in a sluggish state due to the lack of sleep. Why didn’t he think forward?

He shook his head, and Leonard looked disappointed.

“Well, I say we should go for it.”, said Chris, and he actually looked serious, for once. “Anything that might help us take the empress out is worth a shot, I guess.”

“But what is the point if we don’t have any idea of what it is, or even how strong it is?”, pointed out Eileen.

“I’m with Eileen.”, said Heather, placing a hand on the girl’s shoulder. “Mt. Ebott is pretty far from here. The only way this travel will be worth it is if this weapon gives us a significant advantage, and as it is now, we don’t know if that will happen.”

“It will be risky...”, said a woman Frisk never heard speak before. “But hey, everything we’ve done so far was based on risk, right? I don’t see how is this any different. I vote we go.”

“I think this is dumb.”, said Barry, the man who had accidentally fired the weapon in the forest the previous day. “Heather already said it: Ebott is far from here. We’ll be lucky if we manage to get there and back with half of the group alive. I say we keep our original plan.”

Every time someone spoke, Frisk looked at them, as if in some sort of bizarre ping-pong game. His guts were twisting with anticipation. It was possible they’d go to Mt. Ebott, and it was also possible they wouldn’t. He knew he had to intervene if he wanted to balance the odds in his favor, but how? 

“I don’t mean to intrude or anything.”, stated Frisk as someone made a point against going to Ebott. “But I saw you have two minivans out there. Wouldn’t that help with the distance?” 

“We don’t have much fuel.”, explained Heather. “Enough to cover a good portion of the way, but we’d still have to walk. Besides, we can’t forget we have to come _back_ as well.”

Frisk clenched his fists. He wanted to tell they _wouldn’t_ have to come back, but how would he explain that? Instead, he simply looked down, resigned. MK looked as if about to say something, but simply sighed.

“What do you think, dad?”

Everyone looked at Leonard, who crossed his arms once more. Of course, he was the leader – the most important opinion on the group, the one who could decide what the next step would be. He glanced a careful look towards Frisk, as if analyzing the human, who in turn held his breath. For some dreadful seconds, the room was completely silent, until the man finally spoke his mind.

“Sorry, Frisk. If you can’t tell me anything more concrete about this so-called ‘weapon’, I don’t think the trip will be worth the risk.”

Frisk felt as if a golf ball was stuck in his throat. He wanted to shout, to curse, to yell they didn’t understand what was really going on, but he simply nodded, defeated. It was frustrating – they were so close...

“However...”, continued Leonard.

The human looked up, hopeful. Leonard glanced a look at everyone across the room.

“We’re a group. We decide things together.”, he continued. “So we’ll vote. The majority will decide what will be the next step. Frisk and MK, I’m sorry, but considering you’ve been with us just for a day, you won’t get a vote in this one. Is that okay?”

Both Frisk and the yellow monster nodded. There _was_ a chance for them, after all. Maybe, just maybe...

“Okay. Who votes for going to Ebott to fetch this ‘weapon’ Frisk has revealed to us?”

Some people – including Chris – raised their arms. Frisk rapidly counted four of them.

“All right. And who votes for keeping the original plan and going after the empress?”

Other people raised their arms. With his heart beating fast, Frisk counted how many they were.

 _Four_.

Four people – a tie. But didn’t the group had nine people? Who didn’t..?

“Eileen?”, called Leonard, looking at his daughter. “You... didn’t vote, did you?”

To Frisk’s surprise, Eileen had a conflicted expression, as if she didn’t know what to do. That was weird – she had made a point against going back to Mt. Ebott, after all. Did she change her mind? If so, why?

She looked straight into Frisk’s eyes, and once again he couldn’t help but feel she was staring right into his soul – the deepest part of his being. It was a piercing look that made Frisk wonder if that girl could somehow read the thoughts that were going through his head.

She then looked at her father, her expression serene, but not any less confused.

“I... uh...”, she began. “I vote... I guess it’s better... It’s better to keep our original plan. Yeah, we should go after the empress.”

Leonard nodded, agreeing.

“Then it’s settled.”, he said, looking at Frisk. “Sorry, Frisk. But thank you for sharing this information with us, anyway.”

The human tried to smile, but on the inside he wanted to kick something out of frustration. They got _really_ close there, he felt it, but his chance just walked away, and it would never come back. He had joined the group in the hopes of making his way back to Mt. Ebott easier, not to go after Undyne – the last monster he wanted to see. He tried not to feel demotivated, but that was a hard thing to do considering everything he did seemed to lead them back to square one.

As the group dispersed to do their daily routines, mumbling their “good mornings” as they passed by, the room got empty, leaving only Frisk and MK alone with the taste of defeat that lingered in the air.

* * *

 

“What do we do now?”

Frisk looked up. He and MK went back to the bedroom after the morning reunion, and they had not exchanged a word since. The human was sat on the bed and had been lost in thought until the yellow monster decided to break the silence.

He stood up and slowly walked towards the door, leaning on the doorway, his back facing MK. In that morning, they had lost an opportunity to reach their objective easily, but Frisk knew for sure that wasn’t going to stop him.

“We still need to go back to Mt. Ebott.”, he said.

“So we’re leaving?”

The human felt something twitching inside his heart – an uncomfortable sensation that grew and grew, fueling him with fear as much as with determination. An idea took form in his mind.

He didn’t like it.

“Yes. With one of the vans.”

He knew there would be an awkward silence after he said that, but somehow it was even more awkward than he expected.

“Oh god, no.”, mumbled MK. “No, no, no! This is too much, dude!”

“MK, listen.”, said Frisk, turning around to face the yellow monster. “It’s not an option, it’s literally the only thing we can do.”

The reptilian monster shook his head in disbelief.

“They took us _in_!”, he said. “They let us _stay_! Are you really going to sabotage them just like that!?”

“I don’t like this either!”, the human replied, exasperated. “But god knows what will happen if they reach and kill Undyne before we have a chance of reaching Mt. Ebott. If the magical shield Undyne cast on the region disappears with her death, all the electronics would start working again, and exterior help would finally appear, which means the monsters would lose the war.”

“So what?”, replied MK, harshly. “How does that affects us?”

Frisk pressed his temples. He really liked MK and appreciated their company – they always stood up by his side through thick and thin – but they had been really getting on his nerves lately. It was like they weren’t even making the slightest effort to _think_.

“For better or worse, we just told these people where the Underground is.”, explained Frisk. “If this war ends with humanity victorious, they’ll try to investigate it. And probably seal it for good – maybe with the remaining monsters inside, if they decide not to just kill them, that is. And if that happens, there it goes our chance to reset. It will all have been for nothing.”

MK looked Frisk straight into his eyes, their expression reluctant. However, Frisk knew they understood how grave the situation was – and that harsh measures would have to be taken soon.

“Damn!”, they said, avoiding the look. “Why is it never easy?”

Frisk could understand that feeling pretty well himself. Ever since the beginning of the war, there had been no easy decisions – only sacrifices and desperate measures. And it wasn’t only physical and material things they sacrificed, but also some of the morals that ruled life in society. Stealing. Hurting others. All for the sake of survival.

“Do you have a plan?”, asked MK, his voice monotonous.

The human gave a long, deep sigh while collecting his thoughts.

“We need to find the keys for the minivans.”, he replied. “They must be here somewhere, we’ll just have to search for it. Meanwhile, we’ll have to act normal to avoid arousing any suspicion in the others.”

“That’s cool and all, but you’re forgetting a little detail here.”, stated MK. “Do you even _know_ how to drive?”

If the situation wasn’t so serious, Frisk would have smiled. He had driven a car once, in the beginning of the war. Granted, he received help back then, but it couldn’t be much more difficult, could it?

Before any of them could say anything else, they heard a door opening in the distance and footsteps getting closer. Frisk looked at the entrance of the bedroom. Someone was coming to see them.

“Heya guys!”, said Chris, entering the bedroom. “What you doing?”

“Just chattin’.”, replied MK, shrugging. “What’s up?”

The human knew Chris hadn’t passed by just to say hello – no, he wanted to do _something_ with them. He had changed his clothes to a green t-shirt and cargo pants, and was wearing half finger tactical gloves. At the very least, it wasn’t a common outfit to use in the middle of autumn.

He smacked his fist, smiling, producing a sound that echoed in the room.

“Leonard wanted me to teach you some basic self defense, Frisk.”, he said. “You can come along too, MK. What you think?”

Frisk looked at MK, who just gave a surprised glance back at the human. He had never really given a thought about learning self defense or any other type of hand-to-hand combat before. Truth was, even though he had learned to shoot with the pistol, perhaps some self defense _could_ come in handy in the future. And even in the case he wasn’t interested in that, he needed to “act normal”, right?

“Sure, I’m in.”, said Frisk, smiling back at the man. “Let’s go, MK.”

“Cool!”, replied Chris, excited. “I like training on the exercise yard. Off we go!”

In normal circumstances, that would be a weird statement, but things were anything but normal, and Frisk’s mind was too busy with other things to care. Chris began leading them across the facility, humming a happy little tune on the way. He walked a bit too fast, though, and MK and the human had a little difficulty keeping up.

Although Frisk liked Chris, once again he couldn’t help but feel a bit sad. The man reminded him too much of Papyrus and...

“Glad you’re tagging along, MK!”, commented Chris, glancing back. “I’m really sorry I can’t teach you self defense, though. You uh... kinda need to have... um... how can I say it..?”

“I get it, man. Arms.”, completed MK, sounding not bothered, but slightly amused. “I figured.”

“Uh... yes.”, agreed Chris, sounding embarrassed. “But hey, at least you can do this magic stuff, right?”

“Yeah, I can.”

“Can you, like, shoot lasers from your eyes?”

The image of MK shooting red lasers from their eyes popped immediately in Frisk’s head, and he snorted. The yellow monster looked down, as if the fact they couldn’t do such a thing was their biggest disappointment in life.

“N-no...”

“Oh.”

When Frisk noticed, they were back in the entrance hallway, and his attention was picked by the room near the entrance door – the one with the window, where prisoners would get their belongings checked. Maybe it was only his wishful thinking playing tricks in his mind, but he thought he caught a glimpse of a key holder in there...

Chris lead them through the double iron door, which revealed itself to be the entrance to the inmates cells. It was a fairly big place with three floors linked by a simple set of stairs – though the cells themselves were very tiny. Being a prisoner musn’t have been comfortable in there. The human once again wondered what happened to them.

After opening a set of gates, they were finally in the exercise yard. Compared to the cells division, the yard wasn’t very big. Actually, maybe calling that place an “exercise” yard was an overstatement. It was only a small field of dirty soil with spots of overgrown grass here and there – a rather depressing sight.

Chris, however, seemed to pay no mind for that.

“Okay, here we are! Are you ready?”

Frisk answered just looking around. MK poked him with his foot so the human would pay attention.

“So, you might think self defense is kinda useless against monsters, because they can do magic.”, began Chris. “And for the most part, that’s right.”

What a lovely way to start teaching something.

“But, some monsters can only do hand-to-hand combat, for some reason.”, he continued, looking at MK with some sort of expectation. The yellow monster understood.

“All monsters can do magic.”, explained MK. “And most can use it in offensive form, like you said, but not everyone is like that. The magic from some monsters acts in other ways, so those need to use other means to fight.”

Chris made a comic, exaggerated reverence towards the reptilian monster.

“Thank you for your wonderful assistance, MK.”, he said, standing upright again. “Anyway, where was I? Oh yeah – so, if you find yourself in a situation where physical combat unavoidable, self defense can really be useful, especially if you need to conserve ammo for your gun. Now, you should know that self defense will hardly ever kill anyone, but it might incapacitate your enemy long enough so you can escape.”

Frisk actually liked that idea. He nodded.

“The coolest thing about most self defense moves is that you don’t even use your strength – you use your enemy’s own strength against themselves. It’s all about technique. C’mon, give a step forward.”

The human obeyed, a little insecure. He had heard about that basic principle of self defense before – but he had always considered himself so frail. He couldn’t care less about exercise, which explained his physical type. Could he really do it anyway?

“Now punch me.”

Frisk looked at Chris, who was beaming with excitement, which only made him look weirder after having said that.

“Uh... what?”

“Punch me!”, he repeated, his smile not faltering. “Y’know, with a clenched fist! And don’t hold back, please!”

Chris was up to something for sure, but what could Frisk do? With a faint feeling of anxiety, the human clenched his fist and, with a quick movement, he pulled his arm back and forth, attempting to punch the man.

It happened so quickly Frisk barely had any time to react. With one arm, Chris repelled the human’s arm that was going to punch him, and with the other, he threw a punch himself – stopping only by millimeters from Frisk’s chin. Would Chris be really trying to defend himself, the human would have received a nasty punch.

“This is a simple move anyone can learn.”, said Chris, letting both his arms fall to his sides, relaxing. “See, most people try to stop a punch by blocking it from the front – but what’s really effective is to push the arm to the side. As a plus, doing so leaves an open space for you to throw a nice punch yourself!”

“You make it seem easy.”, commented Frisk, rubbing his arm.

“Nah, it _is_ easy, you’ll see! C’mon, give it a go!”

And so they practiced. Fortunately, Chris made slower movements so Frisk could get the hang of it – but surprisingly enough, it didn’t take long until the human managed to pull the move in real time speed.

“Oh, they grow up _so_ fast! You make me proud!”, said Chris dramatically, pretending to wipe a tear from his eye. “Now let’s talk real business: the weak spots you should aim for when trying to incapacitate your enemy. First, the back of the knee...”

Chris showed Frisk all those “weak spots” and how to effectively hit them. Frisk didn’t find any of that to be particularly challenging – but then, he was practicing in a safe, controlled environment. In a real kill-or-be-killed situation, things were surely going to be more difficult.

“Good, good!”, complimented Chris, standing up after Frisk had kicked the back of his knee. “Okay, now I’d like to show you some moves that require dodging.”, he looked the human from top to bottom. “Judging from your body type, I can say you won’t really have a hard time with this.”

Frisk couldn’t help but smile. Yes – Chris had no idea of what the human had been through. That would be a piece of cake.

Ironically, that wasn’t the case. Although Frisk could almost always dodge Chris’ attack, he had trouble counterattacking and completing the move. More than once the human fell with his face flat on the ground, earning groans from MK and motivational quotes from Chris (“ _you can’t give up just yet!_ ”).

Time flew by, and although Frisk couldn’t tell for sure how much of it had passed, it was enough for a thin layer of sweat to cover both their faces – which was something, considering the chillier weather from that time of year.

“I think that’s enough for now.”, said Chris, visibly tired, but smiling nonetheless. “You’re doing great!”

“Thanks.”, the human replied, his hands resting on his knees, looking up. “And thank you for taking your time for teaching me this.”

“Anytime! If you wish to practice, just talk to me. I’m always up for it!”

A sudden, sharp pain bolted through Frisk’s skull, making the human flinch for a moment before it went away. Something in Chris’ behavior... it activated a distant memory. He was reminding the human of someone, but who?

With a shiver, Frisk noticed that _deja-vu_ sensation didn’t come from a memory from his past, but from _another place in time entirely_. He had never sparred or trained with anyone before – his brain was probably attempting to remind him of someone from another timeline who did just that.

And yet, Frisk had the weird sensation he knew who the person – or monster – was, after all. That energetic, cheerful and undeniable determined behavior...

“You okay?”

The human snapped out of it. He must have been making a weird face, because Chris was staring him with a concerned expression.

“Y-yeah.”, he replied, clearing his throat. “Just a little tired.”

It was clear Chris noticed something happened, but he decided not to push the subject any further.

“Let’s go inside, then.”, said Chris. “We need to see what the others are up to, anyway.”

Frisk looked at MK, who was behind him. The expression on the yellow monster’s face made it clear they had an idea of what had passed through the human’s mind – but that was no place to talk about that. Instead, they just nodded and began following Chris, while Frisk walked by their side.

They made their way through the facility – Frisk’s mind busy with the memory that slowly began to show its claws. He could feel it, there was something important about the identity of the one he was being reminded of. However, there was a part of him – a tiny part of him – that was afraid of what there was about to be remembered. And that motivated him to stop trying to remember – at least for the moment.

The memory’s claws retreated.

He didn’t even notice they were once again in the entrance corridor. Chris stopped right in his tracks, unsure of what to do.

“So uh... I think I’m gonna see with Leonard if there’s anything you two can help with.”, they said, turning around to face Frisk and MK. “You just... stay there. Don’t attempt a prison break!”

They laughed at their own joke, and Frisk rolled his eyes, but waved a goodbye as Chris disappeared after a door. The second it closed, the human walked towards the window that allowed them to see into a room near the entrance.

There it was – the key holder. His heart skipped a beat. It held a lot of keys – and one of them possibly would give them access to the minivans outside. MK walked towards the human, stopping next to him and looking at the key holder as well, the puzzle pieces falling together.

“Do you think the keys are there?”, they asked.

“Only one way to find out...”, said Frisk, walking towards the door that gave access to the room.

As the human lifted his hand to touch the doorknob, there was a moment of hesitation in which a strange silence filled the room and he could feel his heartbeats strong inside his chest. Was he doing the right thing? Was stealing the vehicle _really_ necessary?

He shook his head. He knew there wasn’t another way – the clock was ticking and he needed to act fast. Letting all his doubts aside, he touched the knob and turned it.

Locked.

“Dammit!”, mumbled Frisk, stepping back and looking at the door. So close, yet so far. “Of course... they wouldn’t just leave it open...”

He looked down, sighing. MK approached.

“Dude, uh... the key must be somewhere, right?”, they said. “We’ll find it.”

They attempted to sound confident, but the doubt was plainly hearable in their voice. Frisk gave a dry laugh.

“True, but this place is huge. Where do you think they’d keep the key for this room?”

“C’mon, Frisk, that’s not even a hard one.”

The human thought for a while. Truth was that he was still shaken up by that sprout of memory that began to appear in his mind – it was a feeling he wasn’t used to, like he was about to remember something dark and forbidden. Nonetheless, MK was right: although the prison was big, the group camping there was a lot smaller.

“Someone must be keeping the key, right?”, deduced Frisk, and MK smiled. “Either with themselves or in their room. God, it will be difficult to search for it without seeming suspicious.”

MK agreed with a nod, somberly. Frisk looked once again to the door – in a sense, the last obstacle between him and Mt. Ebott. That thought fueled him with determination – he had gone through all sorts of dangers and shortcomings before, he could do that.

“Do you think it’s with Leonard?”, the human asked.

MK frowned.

“Possibly. He’s the leader and all.”, he said. Then, he made a weird expression, as if a strange thought had crossed his mind. “But... maybe it’s with...”

He looked at Frisk, who understood _exactly_ what the yellow monster meant. Sure, Leonard was the obvious choice to be with the key – but Frisk knew that group was _anything_ but obvious. They were chasing Undyne, after all. And most importantly, they left their camp security with someone else the day before.

And something inside Frisk told him if anyone would be trusted with the key’s security, it would be that person, no doubt about it.

“Eileen.”

* * *

 

Unfortunately, there weren’t many opportunities when Frisk and MK would be left alone for enough time for them to search for the key that day. They were almost always accompanied by someone else – helping Heather to reload magazines, or fixing some wiring with Barry to restore energy to all parts of the prison. The human noticed they always said that Leonard had told them to search for the human and the yellow monster, which made Frisk wonder if that was their ultimate excuse or if Leonard was trying to be sure they wouldn’t be wandering around the prison by themselves.

During the brief periods they would be left alone, Frisk and MK made a little plan – their best bet of getting the key would be at night, during the watch shifts. Eileen’s shift would be the perfect opportunity for them to sneak in her room unnoticed.

Meanwhile, the others didn’t seem to notice they were up to something – although Eileen still gave them that cold, suspicious glare of hers. Frisk knew she would do that even if they weren’t planning anything, but he couldn’t help but to feel a nervous sensation inside his stomach every time he crossed paths with her.

When the night fell and the time came for the watch to start, Frisk and MK both excused themselves to their room – the yellow monster even pretended a rather convincing yawn as they did so. They tucked themselves inside their beds, hearing the movements of the rest of the group deciding who would start the shift. After some time, everything went silent, and the human knew it was time to put the plan in motion.

Grabbing a flashlight, Frisk and MK carefully snuck out of the room, their eyes and ears attentive to the slightest of movements or sounds. However, no one but them was wandering through the prison’s corridors that time of night – the guard shift was done outside, after all.

They walked, searching for more dormitories like the one they had slept in the night before. They silently checked the rooms – taking care not to wake anybody up – until they actually found an empty room that looked like it could be Eileen’s room.

Not that there were any conclusive signs that was her room – but Frisk and MK had been checking the rooms for a whole hour and hadn’t found Eileen in any of them. Turning on the flashlight, the human searched the small bedroom. The only thing that made that room different from the others was the backpack tossed by the bed. He crouched down next to it and opened it.

“You think that’s Eileen’s?”, whispered MK, glancing nervously at the corridor.

Frisk took a good look at the backpack. It was gray with pink details – but there wasn’t a name or any mark that could identify it as hers. Still, he knew he couldn’t be held back by it – even if it wasn’t Eileen’s, there wasn’t anything else in the room to be searched.

Giving a little, shaky sigh, he began to search the contents of the bag. He couldn’t help but feel a bit nervous – he didn’t like the idea of prying into other people’s stuff. It didn’t help the only other day he had actually fiddled with someone else’s backpack was actually one of the worst days of his life. As the human got the supplies and ammunition out of the way, he couldn’t help but be reminded of sad, unpleasant memories of events that had happened a little more than a month before.

And then, he found a picture.

Holding it against the faint flashlight’s beam, he took a look. It was an old polaroid of a woman with dark skin and curly hair, with a kind, warm smile. Even though Eileen resembled her father’s expression a lot more, Frisk knew for sure that was her mother.

A wave of embarrassment passed through the human. He felt he was seeing something he shouldn’t – a space too personal for him to just pry in uninvited. In a sense, he related – he knew for sure he wouldn’t like any intruders to see the photo _he_ kept in his backpack – the photo that held sweet and painful memories at the same time. He wasn’t trying to learn more about Eileen, but to simply get the key he needed.

“Found something?”, asked MK, anxiety all over his voice.

“Nothing.”, replied Frisk, slipping the photograph back into the backpack and continuing his search.

And then, he felt it – the cold metal against his palm, the perfect format of a key. With a quick move, he pulled it out from the bottom of the backpack and looked at it. It was a simple key, slightly rusted in some parts, but mostly intact.

The human slowly got back up again, searching the key for any signs that could indicate it was actually the key he had been looking for. MK approached him from behind, trying to get a glimpse as well.

“Is this it?”, they asked. “The key?”

They seemed to have a hard time believing it. Frisk himself couldn’t believe it had been so easy – but luck had to change to his side eventually, right? However, he didn’t want to get his hopes up – not without a good reason, anyway.

“I think so.”, he replied, shoving the key in his pocket. “Let’s find out now.”

As soon as they got out of the room, however, they heard steps growing closer. Someone was coming.

With quick thought, Frisk opened the door next to him – which turned out to be another room, and shoved MK inside, entering and shutting themselves in just as he could hear the steps passing by the corridor. For a brief, terrifying moment, it seemed to stop exactly in front of the room they were hiding, but proceeded shortly after. Once it grew distant, Frisk let his breath out.

“I think that was Eileen...”, the human whispered, looking at MK, even though it was so dark he couldn’t make out their face.

“Her steps are so soft...”, replied the yellow monster with a melt in his voice Frisk knew for sure wasn’t because of fear or anxiety. “I-I mean, yeah... I guess so.”

Normally, the human would have poked fun at the monster, but his mind was focused in their objective. That was no time to be joking around – so instead he simply opened the door and silently walked across the corridor.

They made their way back to the entrance corridor, fearful they would cross paths with someone, but fortunately that didn’t happen. Once they reached the entrance, Frisk went directly to the door that led to the room with the keys they were after. He took out the key from his pocket, and with his hands shaking slightly, fit it into the lock and turned. The air was filled with expectation.

 _Click_.

The human didn’t even need to turn the doorknob as the door opened by itself – as if inviting them in to take their prize. With a wide, silly smile plastered on his face, Frisk stepped inside. He looked at MK, who was also smiling. He wanted to laugh and jump out of joy, but held himself – his “mission” wasn’t over yet.

He picked up the keys on the key holder. There were a lot of them – five or six, when the human knew they would only need one for a van. But as he didn’t know which one it was ( _if_ one of them was, he needed to remind), it would be better to take them all to test it.

“What’s the next step?”, asked MK, and for the first time, Frisk knew exactly what to answer.

“We wait until the night shift stops. Once the last one gets through here, we go outside, get one of the vans and get out of here. We did it, MK! Ebott is ours!”

His voice was vibrating with excitement. They had actually done it. The next step was only a matter of waiting – and waiting would be easy, considering all they had done.

MK, however, made a weird expression.

“What about your backpack?”

All the excitement immediately deflated out of Frisk like a popping party balloon. He wanted to facepalm himself. Of course, he couldn’t forget his things – and he had left them in the room MK and him had slept the night before. Why didn’t he bring it along? He needed to fetch it.

“You’re right.”, said Frisk. “But it’s no problem, I’ll go get it. You stay here. I’m coming back and we’re spending the night in this room. If we close the door and keep our heads low, they won’t even notice it’s unlocked and that we’re here.”

“All right, but don’t take too long.”, said MK, slightly worried.

Frisk nodded before getting out of the room and going upstairs, proceeding back to his room. He went in a sort of silent jog – an appropriate way for him to display his excitement with the situation without calling unwanted attention.

Everything was going perfectly well – so it was more than okay to be carefully optimistic. He felt in his heart the reset was closer than ever. He could do it, he knew he could.

As soon as he opened the door of his room, however, it seemed as if luck had once again decided to change sides.

He felt the cold metal from a handgun barrel pressed against his forehead. In front of him, there was a silhouette of a person. Although the only light in the room was the faint one from the outside, Frisk knew immediately who they were, which only made him more confused.

“ _Don’t_. _Move_.”, said Eileen in a menacing way, making Frisk actually fear she would shoot. “Or I’ll blow your brain out of your skull. I knew you couldn’t be trusted.”


	3. Silent Promise

“No, please, you don’t understand! I’ll explain everything, just please let us out of here!”

The situation was humiliating, to say the least. Frisk never thought he would have to beg to anyone with such desperation before – but all standards he had were thrown away when they locked him and MK up in one of the dirty cells of the prison. The human grabbed the bars, pleading to be listened, but no one was willing to do so.

Leonard had an extremely displeased look – it was clear he never thought Frisk would attempt to do something as running away with one of their vehicles, which was made clear when they found the keys in his pocket. Eileen, in turn, became furious when she discovered he had the key that she kept in her belongings. Heather just shook her head, sad, before walking away. The others went with her, not seeming to mind, with the exception of Chris, who looked shocked at Frisk and MK.

“I can’t... I... _why_?”, he said, having trouble collecting his thoughts.

Frisk looked down ashamed, feeling something he couldn’t actually describe. Maybe he wasn’t too fond of Eileen and couldn’t care less about what she thought of him, but... Leonard had invited him to join the group, at least for a while. They had trusted him, to some degree. Chris took his time to teach the human self defense. Frisk knew what he did – he knew that stealing one of the vans was a despicable act – but up until that point he had managed to justify it to himself. It was all for the reset. To make things better for everyone.

But thinking he let Chris and Leonard down hurt him in a way he didn’t think it was possible.

The human watched as Chris slowly turned around and walked away, too.

The only person who was there was Eileen. Her face showed a lot of emotions: angst, disgust, despise... Frisk knew she would have the strongest reaction. In a way, he was glad the others showed up soon after she had him cornered in the room. If they hadn’t, the human wasn’t sure he would even be alive.

He didn’t like the idea, but she was the only one there. She was his only chance – as slim as it was.

“Eileen, please.”, Frisk pleaded. “Please hear me out. I know this looks bad, but I swear... I swear I can explain it...”

He was glad to notice his voice didn’t have that desperate tone from before. Eileen looked at him for sometime, as if deciding which bad name was more fitting to him. She seemed to be having a hard time with that.

“We have nothing to talk about.”, she simply said.

And then, she left. MK and Frisk were alone in that dark, tiny cell, with no one to hear them. No one to save them.

“We messed up.”, said the yellow monster, who was sat by the corner of the cell, clearly having given up.

And Frisk could do nothing but sit by his side, defeated.

“I knew this wasn’t a good plan, man.”, continued MK, rubbing salt on the wound. “I should have talked you out of it.”

“You know I wouldn’t listen and just carry on with it anyway, right?”

Frisk didn’t mean to sound annoyed – he didn’t want to fight or argue with the reptilian monster as things were bad enough as they were – but he couldn’t help it. Fortunately, they ignored it.

“Yeah, you’re right.”, they said, slowly. “Screw your determination. It always leaves us between a rock and a hard place.”

The human let out a long sigh. He was tired of always taking the blame. He was tired of feeling guilty all the time, of feeling like garbage. Nonetheless, up until that point he had always managed to soldier through all that to seek his objectives, but perhaps that wouldn’t be the case anymore. This last situation burnt out all the hope he once had.

He felt hollow.

“Hey, uh... I’m sorry.”, apologized MK, embarrassed. “I blame everything in you, but you’re the only one who actually comes up with the plans, so... yeah, I’m just mad. Don’t mind me.”

“I just... I...”, stuttered Frisk, shaking his head. “I don’t know what to do anymore.”

“I wish Sans was here. He’d know what to do.”

A long and hurting silence fell upon them as those words were said. Frisk looked at MK, who looked back, and the human knew they both were thinking the same thing. It was the first time one of them had said Sans’ name out loud ever since Papyrus had left them the month before. That old wound inside Frisk’s heart began hurting again – proving, better than ever, it hadn’t quite healed.

“There’s no use thinking that.”, the human replied, breaking eye contact with MK. “Sans is gone. He can’t help us. We’re by ourselves.”

“Don’t you miss him? And Papyrus?”, said MK, ignoring him. Their voice tone was bittersweet, like they were reminding memories that were long lost. “I mean... they made things seem easier than they actually were. Now, every day feels like we have to walk through hell.”

Frisk felt something stuck in his throat – a feeling he was getting too used to for his own sake.

“Of course I miss them.”, he said, every word a struggle to come out. “That’s why I want to reset, too. I want to bring Sans back. I want Papyrus to be happy.”

As for the taller skeleton, Frisk had no idea of what had become of them. They had left the human and MK after a heated argument a couple days after Sans died. Perhaps they were out there, surviving day after day. Perhaps they had turned into dust, like their brother.

Most likely, Frisk would never know.

“Um... Frisk?”, called MK.

“Yeah?”

It was clear MK wanted to ask a question, but whatever it was, he was taking too long to speak out. Frisk looked at him, expectantly, until he shook his head dismissively.

“Nevermind.” 

Frisk would normally ask what was going through the monster’s mind, but he was feeling so broken inside he didn’t find the strength to do so. Part of him decided to let it drop because it was afraid that whatever they had to say could break him apart even more. 

The eerie atmosphere of the dark cell filled him with sorrow.

* * *

 

_“Don’t worry, it’s not a cell. But it doesn’t mean it won’t ever be.”_  

Sleeping in a prison cell definitely wasn’t comfortable.

Not that Frisk’s night would have been much better if he was sleeping in an actual bed. His mind was assaulted by all kinds of night terrors he couldn’t quite make out – flashing lights of red, blue and white; formless beings that surrounded him, talking in loud, unintelligible whispers. Were they monsters? Were they humans? Or were they something else entirely?

More than once he woke up jolting up, his forehead dripping with cold sweat. He never remembered what he had been dreaming – the only things the nightmares left were the cold sensation in his palms and the burning feeling in his stomach.

When the light of day began pouring throw the prison bars, Frisk gave up on sleeping and just sat by the corner of the cell, looking at the illuminated spots the sun marked on the ground. Soon, he realized he was hungry, and remembered his backpack. He knew there was some food stored in there, but of course the group of humans confiscated everything when they threw Frisk and MK on that cell – which included their rations.

The reptilian monster eventually woke up too, and sat by the corner opposite to the human. The funniest thing was that Frisk didn’t even notice when they did that.

The two didn’t exchange a word. There was nothing to be said.

Eventually, another feeling decided to join the hunger and the misery: boredom. Frisk grew restless – the lack of things to do in that cell was agonizing. Every second spent there could have been a second to be used to travel back to Mt. Ebott. They were wasting precious time.

That was the reason why, when Frisk heard approaching steps, he stood up and went forth, grabbing the prison bars with both his hands, eager to see who it was. He didn’t care he probably looked desperate and ridiculous – there was no reason for him to hold on to his pride anymore.

The person that showed up was a woman Frisk remembered to have voted for going to Ebott the day before. An expression of indifference marked her face, and she was holding something – two cans. 

The human was about to ask about it when she threw the cans at him. He managed to catch one, but the other fell to the ground with a loud noise, rolling. Frisk took a good look at the label – canned peaches. But...

“Thanks.”, he said, his voice thin. “But how are we supposed to open this?”

“Not my problem.”, she said, shaking her head before turning around and walking away.

Frisk wanted to shout, but that wouldn’t have been worth anything. Instead, he simply picked the other can from the ground and placed them on top of the cell’s hardened bed. MK stood up and walked next to him.

“So... what are we gonna do?”, they asked.

“Can’t you summon one of those spears?”, asked Frisk in return.

MK shook his head, demotivated.

“That’s a bit too overpower, dude. It’d just blow the cans up.”

Impatient, Frisk grabbed one of the cans and attempted to force the lid open with his bare hands. It didn’t work.

They ended up using one of the metal edges from the corner of the bed to open the cans – a long, tiresome process that produced small cuts through Frisk’s fingers. It also made a lot of noise, and the human was surprised no one showed up to check it out.

The information on the labels told them the peaches were still good, but they tasted awful nonetheless. Perhaps that was what canned peaches tasted like? As he helped MK to eat, Frisk noticed he had never actually eaten fresh peaches before. He hoped they were better than the ones they were currently eating.

MK burped as Frisk tossed the last can at the corner of the cell.

“Man, I _hate_ canned food.”, he said. “It’s one of the few things I can never eat by myself.”

“Eh, I don’t mind helping.”, stated Frisk, shrugging. “But I bet you’d like canned food if Eileen was the one feeding you...”

MK bumped into the human’s shoulder in a playful way.

“Shut up. And you’re not _feeding_ me, you’re helping me to eat.”

“What’s the difference?”

“Babies are fed. I’m not a baby.”

“That’s open for interpretation, really.”

“C’mon, dude, I’m only, like, two years younger than you! I can handle myself most of the time just fine.”

Frisk knew too well that was true – both him and MK had gone through horrors no one their age should. That war had hardened them, and in some aspects made them mature earlier than normal time.

It didn’t mean only bad things had happened, though. Through the past months, Frisk began to see MK as a brother of sorts – not a younger one, that needed to be protected, but an equal. Someone he could rely on as much as they could rely on him. It was a comforting thought, even though the human didn’t know if the monster felt the same about him.

The peaches might have tasted bad, but at least they were fed, which made them feel a little better. They passed the time by making small talk and silly jokes. Even the silences were no longer tense and awkward, but companionable.

They didn’t know what time of the day it was, although the sun was still pouring through the bars, when they heard yet another set of footsteps approaching. This time, however, Frisk didn’t bother standing up, and just kept sat by MK’s side – even when he noticed who the person was.

For a long moment, she stood there staring at them, next to the bars, not saying a word. Frisk fought the temptation of asking if she thought she was in a zoo, and they were the main attraction.

“Why?”, finally asked Eileen.

MK’s breath quickened – and again, not because of anxiety or fear. Frisk looked down to conceal the smug that momentarily appeared on his face.

“Why what?”, he questioned back, pretending he didn’t know _exactly_ what the girl wanted to know.

She didn’t seem to be in mood for those little games, as she stomped on the floor, impatient.

“You stole our cars keys. _Why_?”, she repeated.

No longer with the silly smile on his face, he looked up, staring Eileen in the eyes. And, of course, she looked back, just as determined. Frisk gave a dry laugh.

“To go back to Mt. Ebott.”, he answered.

He felt MK’s stare on him – they weren’t expecting the human to actually respond sincerely to the question. Eileen, however, gave a long, tired sigh, passing her hand on her curly hair.

“What’s up with Ebott anyway?”, she asked.

Frisk bit his lip, divided between dismissing the girl or telling the truth. If he chose the former, he’d probably diss a bad joke that would render him and MK some bad laughs later. But there was something in her voice – a genuine tone of curiosity behind the heavy layers of despise – that made him decide for the latter.

“There’s something there... something that could stop this war.”, he said.

Eileen shook her head, thinking.

“There’s no weapon there.”, she said. “Don’t try this bullshit on me, I know you lied yesterday..." 

“Yes, I did.”

“...but there’s something _else_ in there, right? Something that would convince you that stealing our vehicles was a good idea.”

Frisk snorted. So Eileen was _really_ perceptive. She sensed there was more to the situation than it seemed – but would she be ready if she discovered the truth behind the human’s actions?

“There is.”, he said, slowly. “Have you ever heard of time travel?”

Frisk didn’t even see Eileen turning around and walking away, leaving him and MK alone once more. The latter was scandalized.

“' _Have you ever heard of time travel before’_!?”, he repeated. “Wow, _way_ to start an explanation, Frisk! Whatever chance we got of freeing ourselves is gone!”

Strangely enough, the human couldn’t care less about the situation.

“She’d have done the same if I started a slow, patient explanation.”, Frisk stated. “I just skipped all that and went straight to business. It’s no use trying to explain resets and timelines for her. For any of them, actually.”

MK just kept staring at Frisk, still astonished by the human’s attitude.

“I... _ugh_ , I wish I knew how your mind works.”, they grunted, frustrated. “I see your point, but still...”

They didn’t complete the thought – and to be fair the human didn’t know what to think of himself either. He kept looking at the light spot the sun was marking on the floor of the cell. It had moved throughout the day, indicating they had been confined in there for quite some time. He wondered if the group would kill them when they left to go after Undyne, or if they would just forget them there. In the last scenario, Frisk imagined for how long he’d be able to keep his sanity.

He shook his head, trying to clear his thoughts. There was something wrong with him, and that prison cell certainly wasn’t helping.

* * *

 

_The day was sunny, but Frisk’s whole body was soaked._

_What had happened? He was by a river. The water seemed so fresh and nice, it was running fast and it was beautiful. He just wanted to enter for a little while, that’s all._

_He coughed. His throat felt a little funny. Maybe mommy would know what to do. She always did._

_But where’s mommy?_

_He called. He walked alongside the river. She was right by his side a moment ago._

_Did she leave him?_

_Then, he heard something coming from the river. Splashes and gasps from someone._

_Oh, there was mommy! But what was she doing? Was she playing?_

_He called. His throat hurt and he was tired, he didn’t want to be in that place anymore. He wanted to go home._

_But then he felt something weird. Right in the heart, and he felt another sensation in his throat, that got bigger and bigger and bigger until he was crying. What was happening?_

_Why wasn’t mommy getting out of the water? Didn’t she like him anymore?_

_The splashes stopped._

_Mommy had somewhere else to go._

* * *

 

Frisk jolted up awake, gasping for air. Sweat covered his face and made his clothes feel stuck to his body. Prison cells definitely weren’t good for a nice, healthy night of sleep.

He blinked several times in an attempt to make the drowsiness go away, and noticed MK was not only awake, but also standing up. They looked at the human with a fearful expression, and for a moment Frisk feared he had been screaming during his sleep.

“Did it wake you up too?”, asked MK, going to the bars and glancing nervously to the other side – even though all there was to see were the dark corridors.

Frisk slowly stood up, walking towards the monster.

“What woke me..?”

As if answering his question, there was a loud “ _boom_ ” sound, and the whole building shook violently. Frisk retreated as small pieces of concrete fell over his head and shoulders.

MK looked at him, and the human could hear their erratic breath. Actually, his own breath was erratic too. He felt a weird pressure on the pit of his stomach. That situation... it felt familiar, and not in a good way.

Then, they heard a hiss that grew in intensity, until it culminated in yet another explosion that shook the building once more. Frisk feared the roof would collapse over them, but fortunately the prison stood its ground. When the dust settled down, the human began hearing – for better or worse – those sounds he knew too well to simply mistaken.

Gunshots. Magic attacks. Screams.

“Monsters are _here_!?”, exclaimed MK, his voice thinner than usual.

Almost in an hypnotic state, Frisk grabbed the bars and shook them. He didn’t know exactly what he intended to obtain doing that, but he knew he needed to get out of that cell. The sounds of furious battle not only were hearable from the outside, but they also echoed through the corridors – which meant the fight was partially taking place inside the prison.

But then, another sound joined it – too low at the beginning, but becoming gradually distinguishable. When Frisk noticed what it was – it was too late for him to tell MK to hide.

Quickly approaching footsteps.

Before he could do anything, the person showed up. It was Eileen. Frisk and MK just kept staring at her as she fumbled her pockets intensively until she finally found a key. She clumsily fit it into the cell’s lock, leaving the human confused. Was she going to set them free? But why?

However, when Eileen finally managed to unlock the cell, she pushed its door so hard it clashed against the bars, and Frisk knew something was wrong. She immediately entered the cell in large steps towards MK’s direction, who just looked at her dumbfounded until she pushed him, making him almost trip and fall.

“Hey!”, exclaimed Frisk.

But the human froze in place as she drew her handgun out of her pocket and pressed it against MK’s forehead. The monster gasped in fear, his eyes fixed on the barrel right above his eyes.

“Did you call them!?”, she screamed, but MK didn’t respond. “Was it you!? ANSWER ME!”

“N... no! Please, I..!”, the reptilian monster closed his eyes, panic taking over.

“THEN HOW ARE THEY HERE!?”

“I... I don’t know, I-I swear!”, replied MK, desperation clear in his voice.

Eileen didn’t look stable. She was shocked and scared, that much was certain. Frisk had to act before she could do anything regrettable.

“Hey, leave him alone!”, he said, his voice loud and clear. “We don’t have anything to do with..." 

The girl simply changed her target, pressing her gun to Frisk’s forehead instead. The human gulped.

“Look me in the eyes and tell me you don’t have _anything_ to do with this!”, she commanded.

Having a gun pressed against the forehead was unsettling to say the least, but Frisk took a deep breath and looked straight into Eileen’s eyes. Even though it was dark, he could still see them – and the fear they were showing.

“We don’t know what is going on. We’re just as confused as you are.”

Frisk spoke slowly and with a surprising calming tone of voice. Eileen kept staring at him, her expression difficult to read, when suddenly she withdrew her gun and pointed it at the ground, sighing and shaking her head. For a moment, no one spoke anything, and the only sounds were those of the battle that was happening in that instant. 

“Follow me.”, she said, breaking the silence and exiting the cell, disappearing beyond the corridor.

Frisk looked at MK, blinking in confusion, while the monster looked back at him, astonished. Had they heard that right?

Before they could decide on that matter, Eileen ran back to the cell, hitting the grip of the handgun on the bars, producing a piercing metallic sound. It seemed she was serious about that.

“Why are you still here!?”, she asked, impatient. “Come with me before I change my mind and shoot you two right here, right now!”

It sounded more like an empty treat, but neither Frisk nor MK were willing to take the risk. They ran after her until they finally got out of the cells’ division. Frisk gasped in surprise as they entered the entrance corridor. The front door and the wall around it had been destroyed, and part of the roof had collapsed. The gunshots sounded louder, and Frisk could hear familiar voices shouting orders over them, although he couldn’t exactly make out what they were saying.

However, that wasn’t the place Eileen wanted to take them. After a brief moment in which she stared at the debris in confusion, she recomposed and opened the door to a set of stairs that would lead them to the upper floors. Frisk didn’t like the idea of going up in a building that could collapse at any given moment, but he felt he had to follow the girl – partially because of plain curiosity, and partially because she held a gun and looked dangerous with it. It would be best not to go against her, for the moment.

“Where are you taking us?”, asked Frisk, speaking loudly because of the noises around them.

Eileen kept running ahead of them, going up set of stairs after set of stairs, and showed no signs of having heard the human’s question.

“Can you at least tell us where we’re going?”, Frisk tried again after a while.

Once again, he didn’t get a response, but they had reached the floor Eileen wanted to go – the last one. She burst out through the door and bolted across the corridor. Frisk and MK struggled to keep up with her pace.

Suddenly, as they were about to turn around a corner, something showed up in front of them. Eileen stopped in her tracks while Frisk did the same right behind her, and MK bumped into him.

At first, Frisk thought it was gigantic pile of feathers, but he quickly noticed it had eyes – a monster, no doubt about it. It seemed kind of cute until it opened its “mouth” – in reality, the feathers moved to form a hole beneath the eyes – and discharged an energy beam that hit the wall next to Eileen, leaving a black mark on it. Frisk was immediately reminded of that weird skull Sans had summoned months prior.

The girl turned around, tripping on her own feet, and Frisk and MK did the same. The corridor flashed white every time the creature launched that beam, and one time it almost hit him – only missing by inches. Soon enough, he heard gunshots being fired, and running, he looked back to see Eileen shooting back with her gun towards the monster. She didn’t hit, but it forced the monster to retreat to protect themselves.

Frisk pressed his back against the wall as soon as he turned the corner. MK appeared shortly after, panting, and Eileen stopped next to them, putting her hands on her knees, shaking. The yellow monster carefully approached her.

“Uh... you alright?”, he asked.

“What?”, she asked, looking up, and it was the first word she directed at either of them that didn’t have an aggressive tone behind it. “Yeah, yeah... I’m fine.”

She stood up once again and unloaded the magazine from her gun, holding it close to her face. After some seconds, she made a frustrated sigh with her mouth. 

“Six bullets.”, she said to Frisk and MK, loading the clip back. “It’s my last mag and I’ll have to make it count. You!”, she directed to MK. “You can shoot magic, right?”

“Y-yes!”, replied MK, his voice failing for a bit.

“Then _use_ it.”, she grunted through her teeth. “Don’t expect me to save you from them.”

“Yessir!”, nervously yelled MK in an automatic state. “Uh... ma’am..?”

“Good. Let’s go.”, she said, beginning to run once again.

“Whoa, wait..!”, called Frisk, watching her distance herself. “Where..!?”

“Leave your questions for later.”, said MK, running after her. “Wherever she’s taking us, it seems to be important!”

That much Frisk had already deduced from her past actions. But what could have motivated Eileen – who had always been so suspicious of him and MK – to not only go unlock their prison cell, but also lead them _anywhere_? There was only one way to find out: to keep following her. And so, Frisk joined the girl and the yellow monster on the run.

They turned some more corners – the precise directions Eileen took showed she knew the inside of the building like the palm of her hand. Frisk, however, knew that he wouldn’t be able to find the way back alone. Not easily, anyway. Finally, Eileen slowed down until she came into a halt in front of a door. She opened it, and the two boys followed her into the room.

Although the human didn’t know for sure, he reckoned it was some sort of operation room – the type he had seen in some old action movies before. Big communication machines were against the walls both on the left and right side of the room – and they seemed a little outdated for modern standards, which made Frisk wonder if they were even working at all when the war started. The only wall that wasn’t covered by those machines was the one opposite to the entrance, which had a big, open window. The sounds of buzzing magic and gunshots were louder there, and the room flashed with multicolored lights that seeped in because of them.

Frisk didn’t resist the temptation to go towards the window and take a peek outside. Just looking to the ground from above immediately made him feel a little faint – they were really high. Unidentified shadows moved down there, either shooting spells or bullets. They seemed separated by a distance, and the human couldn’t really count how many monsters there were, but it was clear the people from Leonard’s group were in disadvantage. He felt a squeeze in his heart as he came into that realization.

“What..?”, he began to ask, turning around to face Eileen, when the girl threw something heavy on him.

He caught it, letting out a huff as he did so. It took him a while to realize what it was – his backpack, no mistaking it. But that only left Frisk more confused. Was Eileen returning his things? Why was she doing such a thing?

He looked up, eager for answers, and jumped in his spot. She was pointing a gun at him.

No, wait... she wasn’t pointing it at him – she was actually holding the barrel, and the part pointing towards him was the grip. She was _offering_ him to take it.

Hesitant, he reached out and grabbed the gun – and it felt familiar in his hands, which was both comforting and unsettling at the same time. He didn’t even had to look to know that was the pistol he had taken from a certain cabin in the woods more than three months before, and had been keeping with him ever since. 

Holding the bag in one hand and the gun in the other, he looked to the ground as millions of questions popped in his head. That was an unexpected turn of events. Eileen was planning something, but what?

“I don’t understand...”, he said, looking up to face the girl.

In the future, Frisk would remember Eileen because of her determined, fierce expression. That time, however, he only saw pain and tiredness – the look of someone who had lived through unimaginable horrors. Even though she was about Frisk’s age, she looked a lot older because of that. The human wondered if the same applied to him.

“I thought... earlier, that you were bullshitting us.”, she explained, walking to another side of the room. “Because if you were telling the truth, this doesn’t make _any_ sense. A weapon? In Mt. Ebott? This is too much for me to believe in just like that, but...” 

She hesitated for a moment, as if analyzing if what she had said was sinking in.

“But somehow...”, she continued. “I think... no, I _feel_ you’re telling the truth. There really _is_ something in Mt. Ebott, right? Even if you don’t want to tell me what it is, I just... I can’t shake this feeling.”

Frisk was speechless. It turned out Eileen was even more perceptive than what she had initially let on. He was taken by a sudden desire of explaining everything – she deserved that much. However, he held himself back. No explanation was needed – telling anymore than what was necessary would only leave doubt in her. And doubt would be their worst enemy at that moment.

She then put her hand in her pocket and picked something up, shaking it in the air. Frisk’s heart leaped – it was a bunch of keys he remembered all too well to simply forget.

“You needed a vehicle, right?”, she said, the corners of her mouth forming a smirk. “Let’s go get it.”

The human couldn’t help but smile back. When he thought everything had been lost, a ray of hope shone on him once more. Perhaps, that time it would actually stay to permanently fuel him with determination.

However, they were not out of danger yet. And that was proven by the door breaking down with a loud noise, startling the three in the room. Whatever broke it did it with such force it took some pieces of the concrete around the door, lifting a high amount of dust.

The creature that stepped inside was unlike anything Frisk remembered from the Underground. In few words, one could describe them as a moving statue – a humanoid figure, though more square-shaped. Nonetheless, their rough form didn’t stop them from moving slickly – in fact, they were approaching the two humans and the reptilian monster with surprising speed. They didn’t have a mouth, but they did have two small dots in their “head” that glowed with an eerie green light. 

Eileen was the first to snap out of it, pulling her gun upwards and shooting. The loud noise from the gunshots left Frisk briefly disoriented for a moment, before he pointed his own pistol and shot a couple times himself. The girl handled shooting a lot better than Frisk did – she targeted the monster’s head and seemed to be actually hitting all her shots, whereas Frisk only managed to hit random parts of the creature’s body. Unfortunately, either way was just as ineffective – the bullets craved into the monster, but didn’t seem to do any damage, much less stop them from approaching. Even MK’s magic was useless against it: he attempted to help by summoning his magic spears, but they simply shattered when hitting their target.

Frisk barely had any time to react when the monster flailed their arms around, dodging the attack just in time. However, while Eileen and MK managed to get out of the way just fine, the human lost his balance and fell to the ground. The creature, noticing it, chose him to be their next target.

As they approached with slow but decisive steps, Frisk backed himself into a corner of the room, using it as support to stand up. He could hear MK shouting and attacking the monster with their magical spears, but the creature didn’t even flinch.

Suddenly, the sounds of rhythmic, successive gunshots – like those that came from machine guns – filled the room, and the monster finally stopped, taken by surprise. Frisk took the chance to escape from them, joining MK and Eileen on the other side of the room. Panting, the human noticed the back of the creature was pockmarked with gunshots before they turned around to face who had attacked them. 

“Hey, ugly!”, called Chris, targeting the monster with his submachine gun. “Why don’t you bully someone your size?”

“Chris..!”, exclaimed Eileen.

The stone monster then charged at the man, showing how agile it actually was. One successful punch from them surely meant instant death, but Chris was quicker, and rolled to the side. Kneeled from a safe distance, he began shooting the creature again. That seemed to slightly slow them down, but they still approached him with dangerous speed.

Frisk didn’t know exactly what motivated him to begin shooting the monster as well – but something in his heart told him he needed to help Chris, even if it would put his own life in danger in the process. They noticed they were being hit by more than one direction and stopped, confused.

“Damn, this thing is a bullet sponge!”, mumbled Eileen, positioning herself by Frisk’s side.

“Doesn’t matter.”, replied Frisk between a shot and another. “We’ll keep on fighting.”

Eileen seemed to like the idea.

“Now you’re talking.”, she said, pointing her gun and placing yet another successful shot at the monster’s head.

And so, the real battle began.

The adrenaline pumping into Frisk’s blood made all his confusion go away, and he felt strangely aware of his surroundings. Somehow, he, Eileen, MK and Chris worked in perfect cohesion, and they didn’t need to shout or instruct each other for most of the part for when to attack and when to wait. Meanwhile, the stone monster didn’t seem to be much damaged, but they were getting tired. Slowly.

Something in Chris was different that time around. Their expression was devoid of the usual warm and quirkiness it usually had. The way they positioned themselves wasn’t open and friendly, but menacing. Frisk remembered hearing he was an ex-military – and any doubts he had if that was true or not vanished from the moment he saw them in battle.

They were doing fine. The monster was advancing towards Frisk and Chris, who were by the room’s door. Eileen was close to the window, and MK was nearby the wall opposite to her.

Suddenly, the creature changed its course.

Quickly turning around, they ran towards Eileen, ready to attack her. Chris gasped and a panic sensation filled Frisk’s chest.

The girl was agile and threw herself to the side, dodging the monster, but they didn’t have anytime to breathe with relief – the monster had chosen Eileen as their next target, and didn’t seem willing to change it. From the ground, she pointed her gun and attempted to shoot. Nothing happened.

She had run out of ammunition.

The creature grabbed Eileen’s neck with their stone hands, lifting her from the ground. She struggled, attempting to kick it, but to no avail – the monster was far too strong. Frisk paralyzed – even though every cell in his body screamed for him to do something, he simply watched as the monster began lifting Eileen’s body towards the open window.

“Eileen!”, yelled Chris, pulling the trigger from his weapon. It clicked.

He was out of ammo, too.

“NO!”, he screamed, throwing his weapon to the ground.

The following moments seemed to pass in slow motion. Chris ran towards the stone monster, holding no firearm or weapon of any sort, as the creature was almost passing the girl’s body to the other side of the window, ready to drop it.

Chris threw himself with his full weight to the monster, grabbing them by their waist. With the sudden charge, they dropped Eileen, who fell safely inside the room.

But they didn’t stop – the creature lost balance and fell from the window. And Chris was still holding them on when that happened.

Time began flowing normally again, but it took Frisk some seconds for what just had happened to actually sink in. He looked at Eileen, who looked back. And then, both their expressions turned into horrified ones. The girl immediately stood up and ran to the window, looking down.

“CHRIS!”, she screamed.

Frisk and MK ran and joined her, looking down. Even though the battle outside had not stopped, and magic attacks and gunshots zapped everywhere, the human instantly noticed the mass of broken stone right below their window. And under it, he could see an arm – but it wasn’t moving. It was limp. Lifeless.

Frisk felt all the temperature drain from his face and his hands. Eileen clenched her fists and beat the window’s edge in a display of frustration. Or was it despair?

“Dammit, Chris...”, she said in a low tone, shaking her head.

The human felt weird. He had only known Chris for two days, but realizing they were dead felt like trusting a knife into his stomach. It was like losing something that could have been saved in the first place. Most of all, it made a very unpleasant memory surface. He embraced himself and let out a shaky sigh.

“Are you... alright?”, he heard MK say, softly.

Frisk turned around to discover the reptilian monster had directed the question not to him, but to Eileen. They looked worriedly at her, who was with her back turned to the human. She placed her hand in her face, making a movement Frisk interpreted as wiping a tear before she spoke.

“Yeah, I’m... I’m fine, I just...”, she said, her voice cracking a bit. “Nevermind.” 

She was clearly on the verge of tears, but she was holding back. Even in the current situation, she was too tough to cry – at least in front of Frisk and MK. Instead, she simply cleared her throat, glancing at Frisk behind her shoulder.

“We still...”, she began, stopping for a moment. “ _You_ still need to get out of here.”, she corrected.

She had a determined look, but Frisk knew it was being difficult for her to keep carrying on. If he was feeling for Chris’ demise, he could only imagine how Eileen was taking it, considering she knew him for far longer than the human did.

Nevertheless, they needed to keep going. So Frisk nodded, wearing his backpack while the three got out of the room.

Magic zapped. Gunshots fired. It was maddening – and even if Frisk was purely focused on the objective ahead, those sounds never really passed unnoticed by his mind. It was a constant reminder that death was waiting just around the next corner.

They reached the stairs and began going down. Frisk thought about the vans – they were in the courtyard, very vulnerable to attack. Were they even functional? No – he couldn’t think like that. He needed to hold on to the hope they’d make it. Hope was all that was left.

Finally, the three reached the ground floor, entering the destroyed corridor. Running around the debris, they went outside, where the battle was happening in full force. Frisk saw shadows running somewhere in the distance by the corner of his eye, but they were too occupied shooting either with firearms or with magic to bother with the three teenagers that had appeared on the scene. That didn’t mean they were immune against crossfire, though.

“Keep your head down.”, said Eileen, crouching, and Frisk and MK did so.

They sneaked by the prison wall, moving swiftly towards the corner of the building. Eileen guided the way, followed closely by MK. Frisk was on the end of the line, looking back from time to time to make sure they hadn’t been spotted. So far, nobody had noticed them.

They stopped by the corner. Eileen took a peek and then made a movement for both Frisk and MK to approach. She pointed at something in the distance – two shadows in the dark that in the moment meant true happiness.

“There they are.”, she said, looking at the human. “The vans. One of them will be your way out of here.”

She then picked the bunch of keys from her pocket and handed it to Frisk. He nodded and pocketed it himself. She turned around to look at the vans once more.

“On my signal...”, she began. “You two run and get a van. Get the hell out of here and don’t stop until you’ve made a safe distance from here. Understood?”

“Your hair smells nice...”, mumbled MK, looking hypnotized by the girl.

“Thanks, I washed it yest... wait, _what_?”

“Uh...”

“Did you..?”

Frisk slapped MK on the back of his head, and the monster let out a loud “ _ouch_ ”, turning around to glance an annoyed look at the human.

“Hey man, was that really necessary!?”

“Yes.”, replied Frisk, harshly. “Yes, it was. We gotta focus!”

_BOOM!_

A wave of heat passed through the three, and it came from their front. Frisk looked and felt his heart sink. The vans – they were on fire. The human’s instincts told him it was okay – it was a small fire, they could put it out if they acted quickly.

And then the second explosion happened, accompanied by yet another wave of heat. Small pieces of the vehicles were scattered around it, while most of it was being consumed by the flames that reached alarming heights.

“You _gotta_ be kidding me.”, was the only thing Frisk managed to say.

“Shit!”, exclaimed Eileen, standing up. “Shit!”, she repeated, walking in circles and passing her hands through her hair. It was the first time Frisk saw her freaking out.

She then stopped and looked at the two, her eyes filled with the light that only appeared when someone remembered something important.

“There’s another one!”, she said. “It’s on the back of the building!”

Frisk sighed, uncomfortable. He was glad their chances were not yet finished, but he refused to become optimistic. It seemed every time he did so things turned against him.

“Do you think it’s still there?”, he asked.

“I don’t know, but it’s our only chance!”, she replied, and there was a note of desperation in her voice. “We gotta try it!”

“Wait... if it’s on the back of the building...”, began MK. “It means we’ll have to get through the crossfire. What are the odds of we making it alive?”

MK did have a point – and luck hadn’t been really on their side lately. Up until that point, the human had been risking everything for uncertain results, but he wondered if that wouldn’t be his doom in a not-so-distant future.

He took a while to notice Eileen was staring angrily at both of them.

“So _what_!?”, she yelled. “That didn’t stop you from trying to steal our vehicles yesterday, and that didn’t stop us from fighting that _thing_ up there! And I bet you went through a lot in this war!”

Her voice cracked on various spots, and Frisk felt the weight those words carried behind them. They almost made him fall to his knees, unable to keep up with it, but he stood his ground.

“So don’t you _dare_ give up now!”, she continued. “Chris... he didn’t... he didn’t sacrifice himself so you would give up! So don’t. You. Dare!”

Mentioning Chris felt like a punch in the gut. Their death had been so surreal – partially because Frisk thought they were one of these people that could never die, that no matter how dangerous the situation became, they would make it through with a smile. Kind of like Sans was, before they too found their demise.

_“maybe we can have a party afterwards, heh. But now, we need to get out of this place. what do you think?”_

That time, the memory of the shorter skeleton, however, wasn’t a painful one, like a stab in the chest. Sans was always telling them to go forward, to keep moving. If Frisk had any respect for them, he had to take his chances, no matter how low they were.

And he was filled with determination.

The three exchanged looks, and Frisk felt there was some kind of mutual agreement between them. Before the human knew it, they were running at full speed around the building.

The battle sounds got unbearably loud. Frisk could feel the heat from the offensive magic the monsters threw around, and the air smelled like smoke, gunpowder, and something else – maybe blood, maybe dust, maybe something even worse than those. It wasn’t anything new to the human when it came to that war, but that didn’t mean he was used to it. It was impossible to get used to it.

“GET DOWN!”

The human instinctively threw himself to the ground as he felt something flying over his head and hitting the prison. It exploded, making fragments of bricks fall over his back. After some seconds, he stood up, spotting MK a few feet away, having trouble to stand. He ran to the monster and helped them get up.

“C’mon, quick!”, Frisk heard Eileen call them a little bit ahead – her voice muffled by the zapping sounds around them.

And they ran, and ran, and ran. They never seemed to get tired – there was so much adrenaline in their bloods they could run for days. They dodged spells, threw themselves to the ground when they heard gunshots and assumed a crouched stance from time to time. Soon enough, dirt, dust and sweat covered all the unprotected inches from Frisk’s skin, and the same applied to Eileen and MK.

Frisk had never felt so scared in his entire life – but his determination was as strong as ever. He felt a gunshot pass by close, making him temporarily deaf by one ear. A magic spell exploded right by his side, somehow making him go even faster. He was in such overdrive he could lose a limb right there and he probably wouldn’t notice until things had calmed down.

Somehow, they made it. Frisk could feel the air a little more pure, and the sounds of battle grew more distant. Eileen ran in front of them, leading them to their objective, and she wasn’t slowing her pace. They weren’t safe – they would never truly be.

They found themselves in a more isolated area, even though it technically was still inside the facility. The prison building could still be seen, but it was distant enough so they wouldn’t be noticed. And as they left the heated battle behind, it was unlikely that would happen.

Frisk’s attention was drawn to the vehicle in front of him. Unlike the other two that were destroyed, that wasn’t a minivan, but more like a pickup truck. The human walked around it, analyzing. The truck had seen some tough times, as evidenced by some dents on its bodywork and a smashed light, but it looked usable despite all that.

“Are you gonna just keep looking or will you two go already?”

Eileen sounded impatient and worried, and there were a lot more emotions hearable in her voice, but Frisk couldn’t pin each one of them out. He looked at the girl – the girl that, when they met, was a potential threat and then became an unexpected ally. He wanted to say something – anything – to thank her for giving him that chance, but the words were getting stuck in his throat.

“Thank you.”, he managed to say, simplistically. “For everything.”

She glanced him a weird look – like the face of forced patience someone makes when explaining something to a small child.

“Don’t mention it.”, she said. “Just do your thing, and try not to die in the way, please.”

The human nodded nervously. That was the closest from a goodbye they were going to get from each other, so he decided to go directly to business and took the keys from his pocket, beginning to try to fit them in the car’s lock. It was hard to do so in the dark, but he tested each key, his heart increasingly beating faster when a key didn’t fit and he’d go to the next. Alongside that, he began feeling chills in his back – a weird kind of apprehension that left him more and more unsettled.

Like there was something behind him.

“FRISK, WATCH OUT!”

The human quickly turned around. Something was not right.

The first thing he saw was a figure that strongly resembled a human right in front of him, with humanoid arms and legs – but their head was that of an octopus, complete with a disgusting looking mouth that had mini tentacles coming out from it. To top it off, they were covered with a thick and smelly slime that had a greenish tone.

Frisk’s instincts told him to back off, but as the car was right behind him, he found himself stuck between the monster and the vehicle. He froze in fear, unable to move, and the creature took this chance to knock Frisk down to his side and hold him to the ground by his torso.

The human kicked and squirmed to break free, to no avail. He heard shocked screams from Eileen and MK, and the sounds of MK’s spears attacking the monster – and although they seemed to be hurt by it, they didn’t let go their grasp on Frisk. Their face was inches from his, and a primal terror installed within his heart when they opened their mouth to let its tentacles begin to wrap around his throat, squeezing it.

Soon enough, he couldn’t breathe anymore – and the squeeze was just getting tighter. The sounds of screams began to feel more distant. He had seconds until he’d lose his conscience.

But somehow, almost in an automatic way, he managed to pick up the handgun inside his pocket. He had even forgotten he had put it there instead of his backpack, like he usually did. Black spots were forming in his vision, getting larger and larger, when he sticked the pistol barrel inside the monster’s mouth.

He could feel his last second of conscience fading away when he pulled the trigger.

There was a loud bang, and everything stopped. Dust and slime fell all over him, and he coughed, being able to breathe again, gasping desperately for air. His vision began to clarify, and he noticed his whole body was trembling. He felt like someone had thrown him into cold water and then brought him back – leaving him confused and wondering what had actually happened. He saw MK and Eileen standing next to him, glancing down, worried.

As soon as he felt his legs again, he clumsily stood up. He felt the slime against his skin and attempted to clean it off – but it was far too much for him to clean without a towel. He noticed the dust and began to panic, not being able to avoid the vocalizations to come out from his mouth, his voice sounding a lot thinner than usual.

“Frisk...”, he heard MK say in a soothing tone.

The human stumbled towards the truck, leaning against it, taking deep breaths. Eileen and MK just watched from a safe distance. Frisk lost track of time, but he didn’t care. His mind was insanely filled with billions of thoughts and his heart swirled with different emotions. Eventually, his breath got steadier and he calmed himself down a bit. The reptilian monster carefully approached.

“Hey... dude...”, he called softly. “You okay?”

The human didn’t really feel okay, but he nodded slowly in agreement, not looking MK in the eyes. He then bended down to pick the keys up from the ground, and began trying to fit one of them in the lock again. The yellow monster made a weird sound with their mouth, like they were surprised Frisk was actually doing that, but the human didn’t care.

The last key fitted. The human turned it around and opened the car’s door, leaving it wide open – but didn’t make any motion to enter. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, the moment that just happened beginning to sink in.

“You’ll be fine.”

To Frisk’s surprise, the person who said that was Eileen, with a sympathetic tone in her voice, of all things. Frisk looked at her and their eyes met – and Frisk noticed she actually _understood_ what was going on with him in that moment, in a way not even MK, being closer to him, could. It made him remember the reason they had gone through the trouble of getting to that vehicle again.

“Come with us.”, he said, his voice hoarse, but clear. “You deserve to know the truth... to know what really is in Mt. Ebott. I’ll explain everything.”

The girl didn’t look surprised by the request – in fact, she seemed rather conflicted about it. She wanted to go, but something was holding her back. After some seconds, she shook her head.

“No. Not without my father. Or the others.”, she said firmly. “They need me, and I need them. No – I feel... whatever is in Mt. Ebott is for you, Frisk. So go there. Do what you think it’s right.”

Frisk actually expected that answer, so he simply nodded. Of course – how could he explain Eileen about everything that was motivating him to go back to Mt. Ebott, the dark secret of the mountain nobody knew of? The resets? The timelines? That was _his_ world. And Eileen... she was too busy trying to survive. Their paths in that world were as different as night and day.

He glanced a look at MK, who had a determined expression.

“Let’s go, MK.”, he said.

The reptilian monster nodded and entered the car, sitting on the passenger seat. Frisk went after him, sitting on the driver seat and closing the door. He put the key on the ignition and grabbed the wheel for a moment. That was it. They did it.

He looked at Eileen, who was still outside. They looked each other in the eyes, and although no words were spoken, they both understood.

An agreement had been reached. The girl turned around and ran back to the battle, and as her footsteps grew more distant, an introspective silence filled the place – tainted only by the fight sounds nearby the prison building.

Frisk then turned the ignition. The car lit up.

“Uh...”, MK sounded nervous. “You sure you know how to drive this thing?”

Frisk changed the gear stick, trying to remember all the information about transmission changing he had learned by watching television and movies during his life.

“No.”

He stepped on the accelerator.


	4. Burial

The highway blurred in a mixture of gray, green and the obfuscating yellow light from the car. It was a good thing the road was only a straight line – it made it easy to get away from the prison and from the battle that was going on there.

“Frisk...”

Even though they had made a good distance from the prison, Frisk’s mind was still there. He wondered if anyone else had been injured or killed. The thought made him strangely self-aware of the slime and dust that covered his body, and he felt he was going to throw up.

“Frisk.”

He didn’t want to. He didn’t. He thought, after all those years, he was finally above murder, that he’d never have to kill again. He couldn’t understand what was going on. Was he actually feeling _bad_ for the monster that had attacked him? But why?

“Frisk, you’re going too fast, we’re gonna hit something, c’mon dude...”

It made him feel guilty. He knew the monster had attacked first, so why did he pitied them? Why did he feel so bad? That wasn’t natural, nor healthy, wouldn’t he ever get a bit of peace of mind?

“Frisk!”

Almost like a reflex movement, the human stepped on the brakes. The truck came into a sudden halt, the wheels making a loud screeching noise against the road. Frisk coughed, feeling nauseated, his hands still on the steering wheel, his palms sweaty.

Although he didn’t look, he heard MK relaxing on the passenger seat by his side, and had a feeling they were looking at him. 

“ _God_ , Frisk.”, they said, their voice tired. “You’re a nervous wreck. Like, more than usual.”

The human simply let his head fall, bumping into the wheel, making the horn echo through the highway for a second.

“I’m sorry.”, he said, lifting his head up again. “I’m just... I can’t stop thinking about the monster that attacked me back there.”

He felt his face go red when he said that – MK would surely think he was insane. He didn’t even looked at them – he kept focusing on the highway that extended in front of him, where he could see the first rays of the rising sun appearing. The dark night sky was giving place to a shade of grayish blue.

“Feeling guilty, huh?”, commented MK after some seconds.

Frisk was surprised to hear the sympathetic tone in MK’s voice instead of a judging one, which made him relax, if only by a little. Still, he chose not to look at them.

“I don’t know if it’s guilt but...”, he began, his eyes now focused on the steering wheel. “But god, it leaves me rattled. I know they attacked me first, and I was just defending myself, but I feel... I feel the same way I felt when I... when Toriel... I don’t understand.”

He wished he understood. How could he feel the same way about killing Toriel, the lovable monster that wanted to protect him from danger six years prior, and killing whatever had attacked him back in the prison?

“Hey, it’s okay to be rattled.”

MK sounded so earnest Frisk couldn’t help but finally turn his head to face them. They smiled – but their eyes were filled with a sadness the human had never seen in them before.

“You’re feeling this way because... well, you don’t like killing. And it’s not like you’re used to it, either.”, they calmly began. “The fact you feel _something_ after having killed someone, even if it was in self defense, means that you’re still _you_. You’re still the same Frisk I met all those months ago... hell, in some ways you’re the same Frisk I met back in the Underground all those _years_ ago. I’m not worried you’re feeling bad for killing, man. I’d be worried if you didn’t feel anything at all.”

There was a silence in which MK’s words began to sink in. They did make some sense, and on the bare minimum they made Frisk feel a little better. They were right – after everything he’d been through and everything he had done, he was still _him_. And that was an important thing to remember.

“And...”, continued the reptilian monster. “You can take comfort in the fact you have only killed in self defense. Not all of us are that lucky.”

So that was the reason behind the sad smile. Frisk grabbed the wheel with more force, cursing himself mentally. He was so absorbed into feeling sorry for himself he completely forgot MK also had their share of bad experiences – which included at least one killing. They were following orders, but that didn’t make it any better. The human could at least say he killed to protect himself.

Except... that wasn’t exactly the case. There was one death... only one death Frisk caused that he didn’t feel any guilt about. He couldn’t feel any sympathy for _it_. He wondered why, but only for a brief moment. He didn’t like thinking about that.

Instead, he gave a dry laugh.

“We’re really messed up, huh?”, he said, looking to the highway in front of him once again.

“Yeah...”, replied MK, looking to the front too.

After that, they both just kept there, doing nothing but enjoy the company of each other. There was something comforting about being in the presence of someone who understood the other’s personal hell. They watched the sun rise above a little more, until they had to squint their eyes as the clarity was becoming too great.

“How much fuel do we have?”, asked the reptilian monster.

Frisk looked at the gas display, giving a little smile.

“We can still cover a good portion of the way.”, he replied, feeling a burst of determination course through his veins.

“Let’s go, then.”

And Frisk stepped on the accelerator once again. This time, however, he drove at a much more moderated speed.

* * *

 

The golden flowers that grew on the region were truly amazing. They could withstand hot temperatures as well as cold winters – and considering the temperature fluctuated a lot, there would be times of the year the only flowers to be seen would be them.

Nevertheless, that wasn’t the case in the moment. Even though there was a chilly wind blowing and the day had dawned overcast, with rain threatening to fall at any moment, it was nothing the other plants couldn’t stand. The golden flowers still stole the spotlight, though, growing strong just about everywhere in the environment.

They were close. Finally, they were _close_. They had been walking for almost a month, and that was after consuming all the fuel they could to cover ground by car.

The trees were familiar, too. They looked just like the trees that grew around Frisk’s hometown. The human became naturally excited, and from time to time he’d notice he had sped up his walking pace, which rendered many complaints from MK, telling him to slow down.

“C’mon, MK!”, he said, stopping and looking back, smiling. “We’ll never reach Mt. Ebott at this pace!”

“Dude, you’re almost _running_!”, complained MK, catching up. “We’ve been walking since dawn, can’t we take a break or something?”

“We can take a break once we reach town.”, said the human, decisively.

He began walking again, this time at a slower pace so he could walk side by side with MK. He was in excellent mood – in fact, he hadn’t been in such good vibes for a long time. He could feel it, perhaps that would be the day he’d finally reach his objective.

The reset was near, and with it, the chance to start over again. A chance to fix his mistakes and bring happiness to everyone – including himself.

“Um... Frisk?”

“Hm?”

“There’s... something that’s been bothering me for a while now.”

MK sounded uncomfortable, which made Frisk worry, though they didn’t stop walking.

“What is it?”, inquired the human.

They still walked in silence for a little more time, and Frisk could almost hear MK’s scrambled thoughts inside his head, trying to organize himself so he could say what he wanted.

“It’s about, uh... about Sans.”, he finally said, though the last word came out noticeably lower than the rest of the sentence. “I’ve been thinking... he knew about the resets. He could remember them, right?”

“Right.”

“So... um... I don’t mean to...”, he continued, having trouble completing the sentences. “I mean, I know Sans died... but if you look back at what he’s been through, the resets and all... don’t you think he was, you know... _happy_ that things were moving forward, even in the way they were?”

Frisk stopped walking and looked at MK, not angry, but genuinely uncomfortable himself. A thunder reverberated from the sky, indicating there was a storm coming in the way.

“What do you mean?”, asked the human.

“Sometimes I just wonder if resetting is the right thing to do.”, stated MK, plainly. “Back in the prison, you said one of the reasons you wanted to reset was to bring Sans back... but I can’t help but think if he would actually want to come back after everything he’d been through.”

It was a troubling matter, indeed. Frisk looked down, imagining what the short skeleton would tell if they were there with him in that moment.

“I...”, the human attempted to say. “He didn’t deserve to die, MK. Not in that way.”

“I know. I didn’t say he did.”, they replied. “It’s... more complicated than that.”

They rubbed their feet on the ground. Frisk swallowed. Despite all the determination to reach his goal, he could understand the monster’s point on the matter. It was reasonable to have doubts about the resets – specially when there was so much at stake. The human knew they always had their doubts, and admired the fact that didn’t stop them from tagging along with him in that journey.

“Hey...”, he called, softly. “I said it before, but I’ll say it again. You don’t owe me anything, okay? And now that we’re closer than ever to Mt. Ebott, I won’t ask you to come along if you’re uncomfortable with it. I can only thank you for coming with me, but if you don’t want to take part in the reset... I won’t make you.”

“Cut it out, dude!”, immediately said MK in return. “I told you we’d do this together. I’m not leaving. I just want to make sure if a reset is what you _really_ wanna do.”

Frisk nodded firmly. MK nodded, too, and they began walking once again.

That reset would be the ultimate reset – the one he’d use to make things right. The human still wasn’t sure on how he’d do it, though. He had the feeling the answer was in the Underground, of course, but that was about it. He hoped it would click on his mind as he progressed, but so far he hadn’t been so lucky.

On the other hand, his journey wasn’t over. Reaching Mt. Ebott would only be the beginning.

And then, the trees began getting more sparse. Frisk began to see something in the distance, his heart started to beat harder against his chest and his breathing quickened. He felt weird in his stomach and throat – but that time it wasn’t because of something bad had happened. Quite the contrary, actually.

The path they were taking ended on a cliff, but Frisk walked until he couldn’t, standing at its very edge. His gaze fixed on the legendary mountain in the distance – separated from him by his hometown at its foot.

“We did it.”, Frisk said, his voice shaking a little with emotion. “We did it, MK!”

He laughed joyfully, and it was so infectious MK began laughing too. They laughed in utter and total bliss, enjoying the sweet moment of victory – which had come with the price of a lot of sacrifice and struggles. But after so many hardships, they took comfort in knowing they were indeed close to their final destination. Meanwhile, another thunder reverberated in the distance, and it almost sounded like Mt. Ebott itself was answering, complimenting them for having finally reached it.

* * *

 

It wasn’t the first time Frisk had revisited a town after the war had started. The destruction didn’t impress as much the second time around – there wasn’t that feeling of shock and primal fear, the type they feel by knowing someone could jump out from the next corner and attack.

No, the type of fear he felt on those occasions was another. More subtle – and somehow, more oppressive. Even in the open, the air felt stale, making it hard to remember there was actually life – let alone whole civilizations – in other parts of the planet. The sense of loneliness was almost maddening.

The same applied for Frisk’s hometown – but to the human those factors were playing on a whole new level there. Being the first city assaulted by monsters, it was also the first one to be abandoned – and maybe that was the reason the streets felt even more damp and desolated than ever. There were cracks and holes in the asphalt that weren’t there before. Plants and grass had outgrown by far too much. The air smelt rotten.

It was hard to believe that less than a year before the town was brimming with life – shops selling things, people going to work, kids having fun. It was hard to believe Frisk actually had once lived there.

In the orphanage...

“I wanna go check on something.”, stated the human.

He didn’t speak _that_ loud, but his voice echoed through the empty streets anyway. MK looked at him, blinking a few times. They too were astonished by the town’s state – although Frisk doubted they were feeling the same he was. They hadn’t lived almost their whole life there, after all.

The two began walking, their footsteps sounding louder than they should. Everything was destroyed, making so many places so different from what they were before, that Frisk thought more than once he was going the wrong way. However, there was always something that would trigger a memory, and he’d recognize some places where he used to hang out. The park where he once tried to fit in with some older kids, only to be laughed at. The little market which had an owner that threw Frisk out of the place because they thought he was “suspicious”. The list went on and on.

He wasn’t really fond of any of those memories.

Finally, they reached it. Frisk would recognize the building – or what was left of it – anywhere.

He had seen the orphanage’s wreckage before – the day after the war broke out, in fact – but somehow, when he turned the corner, he still kind of expected to see it whole. Like after all those months it would still be there, waiting for his return.

But no, all that was left were crumbles and pieces of what was once the town’s orphanage. Frisk despised that place – he didn’t have any good times or any good friends in there, but still, he was filled with a weird nostalgic feeling. The days spent there were bad, yes, but they were also simple. Frisk didn’t carry the weight of the world on his shoulders back then.

He walked until the debris made it impossible for him to proceed any further. He looked to the ground, spotting a faint stain of dried blood on the asphalt. The rains from the past months had almost washed it all away, but it was still visible. Perhaps it was from one of the kids who lived there with him? Or maybe...

Before he could complete the thought, he began to have an odd feeling he was being watched – which should be impossible, since MK and him were the only live creatures around. He looked behind his shoulder, instinctively putting his hand on the pistol’s grip in his pocket.

What was odder was the fact, however, he didn’t feel threatened. Quite the contrary – the feeling was rather... familiar.

“What... was she like?”

MK’s voice pulled Frisk’s from his thoughts and worries. He looked to the monster, confused at first, but then he realized the spot where they were standing. It was more or less the same spot Frisk stood on when he and the reptilian monster first met after the war had started. And to be honest, it sure hadn’t been the best reunion of all time.

And there was only one “she” they could be talking about.

“I didn’t really know much about her.” the human explained. “She was the manager of the orphanage, and that’s about it.”

He looked back to the debris, memories of him being scolded by Mrs. Magda flooding back into his mind. He laughed somberly.

“She didn’t treat us very nicely.”, he continued. “More often than not, it felt she was doing business with us instead of talking with children who had lost their parents.”

But then, he remembered the last time he saw her, before she was killed right in front of his eyes. He remembered her shocked expression when she saw the wrecked orphanage and asked if Frisk thought the other kids were alright.

“But I guess...”, he kept on, his voice lower and more introspective. “She _did_ care for the children, even if just a little. In her own way.”

Frisk knew in his heart that was true. Maybe Mrs. Magda hadn’t been the best person around the children – not even being remotely close of being a role model – but she wasn’t all that bad. Running an orphanage must not have been an easy task by any means. Perhaps she had done more for the human and the other kids than he was aware of.

“This reset is for you too, Mrs. Magda.”, he mumbled, his voice low enough so MK wouldn’t hear.

He then turned around, to find the reptilian monster still standing on that very same spot, looking to the ground with a hurt expression. Frisk approached and touched their neck in a friendly manner.

“You okay?”, he asked.

“Yeah... yeah.”, MK replied, sounding distant. “Just fine.”

Frisk could tell they were far from being “fine”, but that was alright. They would be fine, eventually.

“Let’s go to Mt. Ebott, then.”, stated the human. “There’s nothing more left for us here.”

MK nodded, giving Frisk a little smile. And so, they walked once more through the streets – away from the orphanage, away from all those memories – and once again Frisk had that strange feeling he was being watched. But he didn’t look behind.

They made their way through the ghost town, reaching its limits and entering the forest that separated the city from Mt. Ebott. With each step, Frisk could feel his heart getting heavier. Maybe it was excitement. Maybe it was fear. Maybe it was something in between. 

They stopped to have lunch when MK began complaining of hunger. Frisk’s stomach was way too upset due to the anticipation, but he forced himself to eat something nonetheless. Reaching Mt. Ebott and entering the Underground was, of course, only part of the plan, and he needed to have energy for the next step.

The next step...

In a sudden horrifying moment, he noticed he still had no idea of what he would do once he was inside the Underground. He couldn’t keep on autopilot forever and hope things would turn out alright – he needed a plan.

Truth was, he thought it was so unlikely he would actually reach Mt. Ebott in the first place that he never really bothered making a plan if that actually happened. And that was _indeed_ happening.

Those questions bothered Frisk even after they were done eating and resumed their hike. As time passed, the cold wind began blowing stronger. A low thunder sounded from the sky. A storm was in the way, and it was not going to be weak. Perhaps it would be a good idea to find some shelter before climbing the mountain.

And they reached it.

Frisk could barely believe his eyes, but there it was. They were at the foot of Mt. Ebott. The ground became slightly inclined – and in the distance Frisk could see the forest beginning to end, mending with the mountain ground. He had a brief flashback of his younger self venturing there, willing to challenge those old fairytales that kept people away from that place.

The human was ecstatic – and once again felt he was being watched by that same haunting, yet familiar, presence. He looked behind, but just for a moment. There wasn’t anything there, anyway.

“Well, here we are.”, stated MK, sounding pretty happy himself. He looked at Frisk. “What do we do now?”

The human looked back at the monster, giving a nervous sigh.

“I, uh... I haven’t thought about that yet.”, he replied, sincerely.

He was expecting the monster to become frustrated to some extent. Frisk had been so insistent about going to Mt. Ebott – about the Underground and the reset –, how come he wasn’t sure about how to proceed? Instead, MK just looked up to where the peak of the mountain would be visible if it wasn’t surrounded by clouds that day.

“Whoa.”, he said. “First time we’re clueless on what to do.”

The reptilian monster sounded serious, but when Frisk looked he was with a silly smile plastered across his face. They laughed at each other.

“I think...”, began the human once they stopped laughing. “My memories from the other timelines are fuzzy, but I think the reset had something to do with the barrier.”

“The barrier?”, repeated MK, skeptical. “Man, I don’t know if you noticed, but the barrier was, uh, destroyed. That’s how I’m here with y-”

“Maybe not exactly the barrier, then.”, interrupted Frisk, rolling his eyes. “More about where the barrier _was_. After the throne room. Otherwise I wouldn’t have been able to reset after bringing everyone else to the surface, right?”

“Huh, makes sense, I guess.”, they agreed. “We’ll cross the entire Underground, then?”

“Pretty much. But what’s a little walk across the Underground when we’ve come so far, huh?”

“ _Pfft_. Yeah, right. The Underground may be a lot smaller than the surface, dude, but the way you say it makes it sound like it is the size of a freaking shopping mall!”

“Well, I crossed it once.”, shrugged Frisk. “And I’ll do it again. End of story.”

Those words, added with the sight of the legendary mountain right in front of him, filled his heart with determination. He was going to do it. He was going to reset.

“Um... Frisk... just one more thing...”, called the yellow monster. “You haven’t forgotten about keeping your memories, right?”

During the last few days, there had been lots of little moments where Frisk would mentally curse himself – and that was one of those. Of course, he needed to make sure he’d keep his memories across the reset – otherwise, he was bound to make the same mistakes again. How could he have missed on such an important detail?

Well, actually, it wasn’t a detail. It was a _huge_ part of the plan, which meant he basically couldn’t carry it on if he didn’t find a way to maintain his memories for sure.

“Oh, god.”, said the monster, analyzing the human’s expression. “You’ve forgotten about that, haven’t you?”

“W-what? No!”, said Frisk, nervously. “Listen, I’m not sure how, but I know there’s a way for me to keep my memories. There has to be!”

“Very funny, Frisk.”

“I’m serious!”, the human insisted. “Otherwise, how would Sans have been able to keep his memories? Hell, how’d he even be able to bring a photograph from another timeline?”

“You have a point, but it’s still a shot in the dark.”

“I know, but we’ll have to work with it. Anyway, there’s no need to worry. I won’t risk a reset if I’m not sure I can keep my memories.”

As soon as he finished the sentence, doubt sprouted in the back of his mind: would he really? Or would he risk everything even if maintaining memories between resets was an uncertainty? Part of him felt he would actually carry on with the plan even on the last hypothesis – it wasn’t like there was anything left for him in the timeline he currently was. But then, wouldn’t that be selfish? To put everyone in an endless loop, just because he was too stubborn to recognize this plan might not be that great in the first place?

Those were some dangerous thoughts. He shook his head. The reset wasn’t all about him. There was more at stake.

_Crack!_

Both Frisk and MK jumped on their spots and looked back. That cracking sound had come from behind them. The human felt once again that strange feeling he was being watched, and this time it was more intense than ever. He felt his mouth go dry as he picked the handgun up and pointed it towards some trees, around the spot the noise had come from.

“Someone’s following us.”, stated MK, his voice low and urgent.

Frisk had been feeling that for quite some time – since he was in town, but he didn’t pay much attention to it back then. It was a weird feeling – more familiar than menacing, and he didn’t understand why. Nevertheless, he couldn’t let his guard down.

They weren’t alone.

“W-who’s there?”, the human called, trying to keep his voice calm and firm, but the nervousness was getting the best of him. “Show yourself!”

For a moment, there was no response, just a tense-filled silence that seemed to reverberate through the forest. But then, footsteps. Frisk held his breath and put his finger by the pistol’s trigger as a tall, slender figure emerged from behind a tree. And... 

And he let the gun fall to the ground, not believing his eyes. It... could it be? Was it _them_?

MK and Frisk just stared at their pursuer, astonished, unsure of what to think. They, in turn, maintained their distance, looking quietly at the two.

Frisk was the first one to do something. He gave a step forward towards the figure, and then other. And other. Insecure at first, but before he knew it, he was running until he reached and wrapped his arms around them. He couldn’t believe it. They were actually there.

They were _back_.

“HELLO, HUMAN!”, finally said Papyrus, hugging Frisk back. “I’M GLAD TO SEE YOU’RE STILL ALIVE!”

They broke the hug, and Frisk looked up, since Papyrus was a bit taller than him. His face was hurting a bit – and it was because he was giving a really big smile. They smiled too, and there was an unfaltering kindness in their eyes that made Frisk sure that was the real Papyrus.

“Papyrus..?”, called MK, approaching. “Is that... really you?”

“OH! HELLO, MK!”, replied the skeleton, putting his hand on his “chin”, clearly making a “thinking pose”. “AND WHAT A GREAT QUESTION! AM I THE REAL ME? I THINK I AM, BECAUSE IF I’M NOT, HOW COULD I...”

“Ok, I got it.”, interrupted MK, chuckling. “You’re Papyrus, alright.”

He had seen better days, though. There were small cracks on his bones all throughout his body – nothing really serious, but it indicated he had faced some struggles. One of his teeth – a molar – was missing. His battle body was also pretty damaged – the left shoulder protection was missing and there were small holes on the other, making Frisk’s heart tighten a little. Those had been made by someone.

Another thunder sounded from the sky, and a thin rain began to fall. The three, however, just stood there, all marveled by that unexpected reunion.

But then, something changed in Papyrus expression. He still smiled, but his eyes were filled with a sadness that looked almost uncanny on his face, since he was almost always happy and cheerful.

“I’M SORRY.”, he said, his voice low. “I’M SORRY I LEFT. I SHOULDN’T HAVE, I...”

He was in pain – that much was obvious. He was trying to find a reason to justify himself, but couldn’t really find any. The sight broke Frisk’s heart.

“MAYBE I’M NOT THAT GREAT AFTER ALL.”

The rain got more intense. The skeleton looked down, ashamed, and Frisk held back the urge to hug them again, thinking maybe they needed their space for the moment. Still... maybe Papyrus had faulted with him and MK when they left the two in a fit of anger, but the human could never have the heart to turn his back on them, now that they all were there. Together.

“Hey.”, Frisk called, softly, making Papyrus look at him. “It’s okay. You came back. You came back because you’re the great Papyrus, and you’re always there for your friends when they need you.”

That seemed to cheer the skeleton up – the sadness in his eyes waned, even if just by a little.

“THANK YOU, HUMAN. YOU’RE A GOOD FRIEND.”, stated Papyrus, putting his hand on Frisk’s shoulder. “NOW... WHY ARE YOU HERE?”

By that time, the human’s clothes and hair were all soaked, and the same applied to MK and Papyrus. He looked at the reptilian monster, who just stared back, unsure. Of course the skeleton didn’t know what they were planning – why they were at Mt. Ebott – and he surely didn’t know what they were going to do, and how that would ultimately affect him, too. How that would affect everybody, in fact.

But Papyrus deserved to know the truth.

“I’ll tell you.”, said Frisk. “We have _a lot_ of catching up to do. But let’s take some shelter from the storm first. C’mon, I know a cavern near here that we can go.”

* * *

 

“THIS... IS WEIRD.”

The three took shelter inside a cavern near the mountain’s foot – a place Frisk remembered exploring the day he fell to the Underground, six years before. The storm raged outside, but they were protected from both the rain and the wind. The sky had turned into a darker shade, and the human wondered if night was approaching.

Meanwhile, Papyrus held the infamous photograph Frisk had been carrying since he found it inside Sans backpack. The skeleton’s focus was clearly on the smiling image of their older brother. They looked astonished – and sad. The human wondered how the skeleton had been taking Sans’ death.

Frisk had explained everything. About the timelines and resets. How he reset after bringing everyone to the surface in a previous timeline. How he discovered Sans knew about it all. And, mainly, how he was planning to do one last reset to make everything right – including all the risks involved in it.

Papyrus listened to all of it quietly – including the part where they found Eileen, Leonard and their human group. So far, what had shocked him most was the photograph – the ultimate proof what Frisk told him was not just a crazy delusion.

“I know.”, said Frisk. “It’s a lot to understand all at once, huh?”

“Y-YEAH, I, UH...”, mumbled Papyrus, still looking at the photograph. “WOWIE, SANS... WHY HAD YOU NEVER TOLD ME?”

“He was trying to protect you.”, it was the most logical thing Frisk could think of, and somehow, he felt that was indeed the truth. “To protect all of us, really. But... there’s no use keeping things hidden anymore, is there?”

Another moment of silence, when the only sound heard was that of the storm. Frisk was sat between Papyrus and MK, leaning his back against the cavern’s wall.

Then, the skeleton averted his eyes from the photograph and looked at Frisk.

“I’M NOT SURE I UNDERSTAND ALL OF THESE THINGS...”, he began, unsure of how to proceed. “BUT I BELIEVE IN YOU, HUMAN! AND IF MK TRUSTS YOU, THEN I’LL TRUST YOU TOO! I’LL GO TO THE UNDERGROUND WITH YOU... UM, IF YOU DON’T MIND...”

The human smiled.

“Of course you can come. That would be great!”

“THEN IT’S SETTLED! ONE FINAL ADVENTURE WAITS FOR THE GREAT PAPYRUS AND HIS WONDERFUL FRIENDS! NYEH HEH HEH!”

Frisk gave a genuine, good laugh. How had he missed Papyrus and their cheerful demeanor. It automatically lifted his spirits up and made the treacherous road ahead of him suddenly not look so bad.

He then stood up, stretching his legs, and walked towards the cavern entrance, looking to the raging storm outside. Yes – the sky was indeed getting darker because the night was falling. For some reason, the sight filled him with an unexplainable melancholy. Maybe it was knowing that timeline was ending. It had been pretty bad for Frisk... but he had to admit some things in it were good. Like Papyrus and MK, for example.

“We’ll go tomorrow.”, the human said after a while, turning around to look at the other two. “It’s not a good idea to climb a mountain in the dark during a storm, so we’ll spend the night here.”

Both Papyrus and MK nodded. They were really sticking with Frisk until the end, which moved the human, but also made him nervous. If anything happened to them while they were Underground, it would be his fault. His responsibility.

However, he would have to worry about that some other time, as their talk wasn’t quite finished.

“What about you?”, Frisk inquired Papyrus. “What happened to you during these last two months?”

The skeleton shifted uncomfortably in his place.

“I... UM...”, he began, unsure. “I REGRETTED MY DECISION OF LEAVING YOU AS SOON AS I COULD NO LONGER SEE YOU. BUT! I SWEAR I DIDN’T WANT TO LEAVE YOU THE WAY I DID! I DON’T KNOW HOW I DID THAT!”

“Hey, that’s right...”, said MK, remembering the events from two months before. “You teleported. Like Sans.”

“LIKE SANS.”, agreed Papyrus, trying to hide the shame on his voice, but failing. “BUT I REALLY DON’T KNOW HOW I DID IT... AND HONESTLY, I DON’T THINK I’LL BE ABLE TO DO IT AGAIN!”

MK leaned his head against the cavern wall, with a pensive expression.

“Hmmm... maybe it’s a hidden magic trait on you.” he said. “It’s rare for them to come out, but one of the possibilities for it to happen is when the monster looses control of their emotions or get under extremely stressing situations. Granted, it happens more often with children... but anyway, it does make sense you have some sort of teleporting magic, even if hidden, considering Sans could do that, and he was your brother...”

Frisk bit his tongue. For MK, that explanation was logical, but the truth was Sans and Papyrus weren’t biological brothers, as revealed to him by the former months prior. The human looked at his backpack, and for a moment it seemed to emit a weird aura – the weight of the letter and the bottle of dust he had been carrying inside it burdening him.

“So where did you teleport to?”, asked Frisk, trying to change the subject.

Papyrus rubbed his knee caps, still clearly intrigued by the hidden magic thing, before replying.

“THAT’S WHERE IT STARTS TO GET FUNNY... SEE, I TELEPORTED BACK TO THOSE WOODS... THE ONE SANS, YOU AND I CAMPED FOR THE FIRST TIME!”

“Near here, huh...”, Frisk mumbled to himself.

“AND THE WEIRDEST THING WAS THAT I WASN’T EVEN THINKING OF THAT PLACE WHEN I POPPED UP THERE! I JUST... DID! BUT I IMMEDIATELY RECOGNIZED IT!”

The skeleton’s voice was somewhat toned down by the rain outside, but Frisk still could hear him clearly. The human and the reptilian monster waited for him to continue.

“FOR A FEW DAYS, I LIVED IN THERE. I THOUGHT I COULD HANDLE LIVING IN THE WILD, BUT TRUTH IS I CAN’T STAND LIVING OFF BERRIES!”, he stopped and gave a nervous laugh. “SO I MOVED! I FOUND THE HIGHWAY AND HEADED TO THAT TOWN – YOU KNOW, THE ONE WE FOUND MK! CAN YOU BELIEVE THERE’S STILL A HUMAN RESISTANCE GROUP LIVING THERE?”

Memories from that day that seemed to have happened forever ago flooded back into Frisk’s mind. He remembered the moment they met with MK – when the yellow monster was still trying to capture the human for Undyne. And after that, that talk he had with them, that made them decide to stay. He wondered how things would have turned out differently if he had let MK go.

“ANYWAY... AT FIRST I ATTEMPTED TO HIDE, BUT DESPITE MY _AMAZING_ ABILITIES IN HIDING, IT IS PRETTY DIFFICULT TO KEEP HIDDEN WHEN YOU’RE A TALL AND HANDSOME GUY LIKE ME!”, Papyrus continued his story, and the comments he made in between automatically put a smile on Frisk’s face. “SO I WAS CAPTURED BY THE GROUP! THEY WERE... KINDA MEAN AT FIRST, TO BE HONEST! AND IT TOOK ME SOME DAYS TO CONVINCE THEM I MEANT NO HARM! BUT THEN, I BEFRIENDED THEM!” 

The last words echoed in the cavern, and the human tilted his head, unsure if he had heard it right.

“Excuse me?”, asked MK, before Frisk could do the same.

“OH, THEY WERE REALLY SWEET ONCE THEY GOT COMFORTABLE WITH MY GREAT PRESENCE! NYEH HEH HEH!”

MK blinked a few times, his mouth half-open in a display of awe.

“How did you _do_ that!?”

“OH, C’MON, I KNOW I’M GREAT, BUT IT’S NOT _THAT_ DIFFICULT! FROM WHAT I HEARD YOU BEFRIENDED SOME HUMANS TOO!”

“I’m not sure I ‘befriended’ them, for starters, and anyway, Frisk was there, so they were more okay with me because of that.”, explained MK. “But you... you made the humans like you _alone_! That’s kind of a big deal considering they hate us because we started this war...”

Frisk gave a little laugh, imagining Papyrus shenanigans while trying to gain the humans’ trust. Of course, if there was a monster that could make people like them, it had to be Papyrus.

The skeleton shifted to a more relaxed position.

“WELL, AFTER THAT THEY ALLOWED ME TO WALK AROUND! THEY WERE ALL REAL NICE PEOPLE – EVEN THE ONES WHO WERE THE MEANEST TO ME APOLOGIZED AND ALL! SO I’VE BEEN LIVING WITH THEM SINCE!” he continued. “MOST OF TIME IT WAS PRETTY PEACEFUL, BUT THE GROUP SUFFERED TWO ATTACKS WHILE I WAS THERE. THE FIRST ONE WAS FROM A GANG OF MONSTERS THAT TRIED TO DESTROY THE RESISTANCE GROUP... THAT WAS WHEN I LOST MY TOOTH!”

Papyrus pointed to the dark space where his missing tooth once was. It gave a comic feeling to the scene, but Frisk knew all too well how dangerous those attacks were.

“Did you battle?”, asked the human.

“ME? OH, I DIDN’T GO IN ANY OFFENSIVE POSITION OR ANYTHING, BUT THE GROUP ASKED ME TO USE MY MAGIC TO RAISE THE DEFENSES ON THE HEADQUARTERS! YOU KNOW, BONE WALLS, THAT TYPE OF SIMPLE STUFF.”

It was good to see the skeleton hadn’t really changed in that aspect. Frisk felt a strange relief with that thought.

“THE SECOND ATTACK WAS FROM ANOTHER GROUP OF HUMANS...”

The information didn’t pass unnoticed by MK.

“Humans?”

Papyrus’ expression suddenly went darker.

“THAT’S RIGHT... IT’S CRAZY! BUT... THIS WAR HAS BEEN GOING FOR FAR TOO LONG. SUPPLIES GET SHORTER EACH DAY. SOMEDAY, HUMANS WOULD BEGIN TO TURN AGAINST EACH OTHER... STILL, IT IS A WEIRD THING TO SEE!”

Frisk shook his head.

“Unfortunately, humans wage wars against each other all the time, and for far less noble reasons than getting food and water.”

MK and Papyrus glared at him with very confused looks. Of course – the thought of a race turning against its own was totally foreign to them. Monsters were far less numbered, and lived in much less space. They couldn’t afford to turn against each other – that would be the same as doing self-genocide. Humans, on the other hand, existed in great numbers, and had much greater diversity of beliefs and interests. Conflicts have permeated human’s history since the beginning of its existence. 

“And how did you find us?”, inquired MK, looking at Papyrus again.

The skeleton made a pensive expression, like he wasn’t sure how to explain that.

“I’M... I’M NOT SURE, TO BE HONEST...”, he said after a while. “BUT LAST WEEK... I WOKE UP FEELING SOMETHING DIFFERENT. RIGHT IN MY SOUL.”, he put his hand over his chest. “LIKE A TICKLE, OR AN ITCH. AND IT TOLD ME... TOLD ME TO COME TO MT. EBOTT.”

“It... _told_ you?”, repeated MK, having trouble picturing that out.

“NOT LITERALLY! BUT IT WAS LIKE THERE WAS A LITTLE VOICE IN MY HEAD, THAT INSISTED THAT I SHOULD COME HERE! SO I TRAVELLED... TOOK ME A WEEK TO GET HERE BY FOOT!”

Papyrus was making weird gestures with his hands, as if trying to explain the “soul itch”.

“AND... BOY, WAS I SURPRISED WHEN I SAW YOU IN THE CITY!”, he said, smiling at Frisk. “I FOLLOWED YOU... AND FOR A MOMENT I DOUBTED IF I SHOULD SHOW UP. I DIDN’T KNOW IF YOU WOULD FORGIVE ME FOR HAVING ABANDONED YOU... BUT NOW, I’M GLAD YOU SPOTTED ME!”

“More like you gave yourself away...”, commented MK with a smirk. “Are you _sure_ you didn’t step on that stick on purpose?”

“W-WHAT!? NO!”, exclaimed Papyrus. “THE GREAT PAPYRUS WOULD NEVER GIVE HIMSELF AWAY! NEVER! RIGHT, HUMAN?”

They looked expectantly at the human, and for a moment he was reminded of the good old times with Papyrus – but he also noticed something was changed forever within them. Frisk couldn’t really put his finger on what it was – maybe it was the look in their eyes, or the way they were smiling. It showed they had matured, and that maybe they had hardened a little.

But they were still kind and companionable. They still _believed_. And for that, Frisk was glad.

“Right!”, agreed Frisk, laughing.

The rest of the evening was spent with small talk and silly jokes – and Frisk enjoyed taking his mind out of things for once. However, it also reminded him of Sans – that was just the type of shared moment the short skeleton would have enjoyed. The human couldn’t help but feel a little sad – and from the look in Papyrus’ eyes, they felt the same way.

Eventually, when the cavern got dark enough, they went to sleep. They needed to rest – the following day would be a big one.

* * *

 

_Everything was dark, except for the bed of golden flowers in front of him. He walked towards it. They were all really beautiful – one of them was even smiling kindly, and winked when he approached._

_“Why’d you have to SCREW IT UP?”, it said._

* * *

 

During the last weeks, Frisk’s dreams began to make even less sense than usual. He’d wake up with little more than the feeling they inspired on him. When the dream had been good, he’d wake up feeling well and rested. On the other hand, if it had been a nightmare, he’d feel like absolutely no time had passed from the time he closed his eyes to the time he opened them again. 

And of course, when Frisk woke up that day, he felt more like the latter.

He stood up, scratching his eyes to take the sleep off them. Surprisingly, his body wasn’t achy like it normally would after sleeping on such a hard surface, like that cavern’s floor. He walked towards the entrance.

The storm had stopped, and the air was filled with a humid smell. It was quite sunny outside – not a single cloud in the sky, either –, and Frisk heard a bird chirping in the distance. He noticed it had been sometime since he had heard a sound like that. Had the circumstances been different, he could pretend they were just camping. Only without the marshmallows.

His sight landed on the soft, wet soil of the forest in the distance – right where the hard mountain ground began to end and the woods’ ground began to appear. An idea formed in his mind, and it made his heart jump. He looked back to his backpack.

There was one last thing he needed to do before going to the Underground and resetting everything.

“GOOD MORNING, HUMAN!”

Papyrus had woken up, and his loud voice apparently woke a reluctant MK too, who in turn growled and shifted sides, trying to sleep again.

“Morning, Papyrus.”, replied Frisk.

“Just five more minutes...”, mumbled MK, groggy.

“WE DON’T HAVE ANY TIME TO WASTE, MK! C’MON, UP!”

After some more complaints, they finally managed to make the reptilian monster get up – and after eating their respective rations, they all got ready in no time. There was a different vibe surrounding the three – fear of the unknown, yes, but also determination to make things different. And hope.

They got out of the cavern – the shiny sunlight making them squeeze their eyes because of its clarity.

“SO, WHO’S READY FOR SOME MOUNTAIN CLIMBING?”, asked Papyrus, sounding pumped.

Frisk looked to the ground, feeling a bit guilty. If he did what he wanted to do, that would make the cheerfulness in Papyrus go away, at least for some moments, and he didn’t want to make the skeleton feel sad. However, he knew there was an unfinished business they all needed to take care of. They needed some closure.

“There’s... just something I wanted to see, first.”, said Frisk, looking at the other two.

MK looked surprised, but nodded. Papyrus kept smiling kindly, which killed Frisk a bit on the inside. Nevertheless, he led them to the margins of the mountain ground, where the forest surrounding it began to get more dense. He looked to the trees, trying to choose which one was the most beautiful for the occasion.

All the trees looked about the same, though, so he just went towards one that at least gave them a nice view of the mountain in front of them. He touched its wet trunk. It looked very sturdy – it surely wouldn’t break out because of some storm, which was good.

“Uh... what are you doing, dude?”, asked MK, curious.

Frisk didn’t mean to, but he let out a sigh that inspired more sorrow than what he initially intended. He looked back at the two, and Papyrus suddenly became worried.

“WHAT HAPPENED, HUMAN? ARE YOU ALRIGHT?”

He figured he must have let his expression show an underlying pain, which wasn’t his intention. But now, there was no use in hiding.

“We need to say goodbye.”, he said, his voice grave. “To Sans.”

The effects of those words were fairly obvious. Papyrus flinched at the sentence. MK looked to the ground, suddenly saddened, before meeting the human’s eyes once again, and Frisk felt they knew what he had meant.

“You’re still carrying that bottle, right?”, they asked.

Frisk nodded, somberly. The night the short skeleton died – turning into a pile of dust – the human had put some of it into a water bottle. He wasn’t sure why he did it at the time, but now, it all made sense. He wanted to be able to honor their memory somehow – and by extension, to grant some peace over them all.

“I don’t think sprinkling the dust around would be very appropriate, given the circumstances...”, he began, stepping aside and looking to the spot of soil he had been standing on. “So I thought... when humans die, one of the things we can do is bury the body... it’s kinda like a ceremony where we can say goodbye to our loved ones. I know it’s sounds dumb, but I thought we could... um... ‘bury’ Sans here. It is a pretty place, after all... I think...”

It wasn’t quite what Sans deserved, to be frank, but Frisk felt it would be the best place he’d find in the moment.

“THIS... IS REALLY THOUGHTFUL OF YOU, HUMAN...”

The skeleton was embracing himself, with an expression that was a mixture of sadness and relief. It was in that moment Frisk noticed that was the right thing to do.

“Let’s cave a hole right here, then.”, he said, taking out his backpack and putting it on the ground. “It doesn’t have to be really big or deep, but let’s do it.”

And so, they began their work. They didn’t have any caving tools with them, so Frisk and Papyrus used their hands to work on the soft soil – and MK helped them with his feet. The earth was wet, which made it harder to cave, but nobody complained. Soon enough, blisters began to appear on the human’s hands, but he kept digging. It was worth it – for everything that Sans had done for them.

After some time, they got satisfied with their work. The hole wasn’t particularly deep, and was slightly misshapen, but considering what they could do in the moment, it was probably the best they would manage. Frisk opened his backpack and picked up the bottle which contained Sans’ dust.

It was a simple water bottle – and even nearly two months after their death, the dust was still as pure and smooth as it was back then. Maybe it was a property of monster’s dust, or maybe it was just well conserved in the bottle. It didn’t matter.

He opened the bottle and solemnly held it with his arm stretched over the hole. Then, he turned it upside down, and they all watched its contents fall. He shook it to make whatever of dust was stuck there to fall, too. He then pulled the bottle back, and looked at it for a while.

_“'water’ ya keeping this for?”_

Sure, what the hell. He tossed the bottle in the hole, too. It landed next to the dust.

The three stood there for a moment, surrounding the hole, looking at the dust inside it. Frisk had seen his fair share of death throughout his young life, but never once had he been to a burial. He felt funny. Like he was much more self-aware of that hole he had been carrying in his chest ever since the short skeleton had passed away.

“I think it would be nice if... you know, we said some words.”, stated Frisk, his voice failing towards the end. He cleared his throat.

He looked to Papyrus, but they didn’t seem to be willing to start talking any time soon. Frisk himself wanted to say something – there was so much to be said – but the words seemed to get lost on their way from his brain to his mouth. Once again, silence fell upon them.

“Ugh, whatever. I’ll do it.”, bursted MK, standing more upright for a moment. “So, uh... hey Sans... ok, that was dumb.”

Frisk looked at MK, encouraging them to continue. They were already doing better than he would, after all.

“I... um... I know we didn’t start really well.”, proceeded MK, a bit insecure. “I almost killed your brother by accident, and you tried to, uh, kill me. It took us a while, but we managed to get over that, and, who’d have known, we became good friends. I... I can’t thank you enough, Sans. You saved my life, and that’s the only reason I’m here instead of you. I wish you... that you could still be here. We could have been great friends, I’m sure of it. I never really got you, but I always knew, deep inside, you had a good heart. I... uh, we... we miss you, man.”

It was in that moment that Frisk felt a strong squeeze in his heart, and had to fight back to hold his tears. It was only then he realized that Sans’ death was the real deal. They weren’t coming back.

“Thanks, Sans.”, he said, his voice trembling. “You’ll live on in our memories.”

He wished he could say more, but MK had already said everything he would, so that would be pointless.

“I MISS YOU, BROTHER...”, said Papyrus, tears streaming down his face. “THANK YOU... FOR EVERYTHING. I’LL NEVER FORGET ALL THE THINGS YOU DID FOR ME.” 

After that, they stood there for a little while, each one deep in their own thoughts. Frisk didn’t remember how much losing Sans had hurt – but finally being able to say a proper goodbye felt like the first step for overcoming it. He would always miss them – but hopefully, when he remembered them, he would smile with their memory instead of feeling hurt. That was what Sans would have liked – he was sure of it.

They put the earth back on its place – covering the dust and the bottle. Not surprisingly, it was a lot easier than making the hole. To complete it, just when Frisk was thinking on what he could use to mark the spot, Papyrus conjured two bones from the earth, making it stand over the pit in a cross-like formation.

It was a nice way to mark the place, although Frisk wasn’t sure if it would last for long. But he didn’t tell that to Papyrus – if they felt that was okay, on what terms could the human criticize it? He put the hand on their shoulder, and Papyrus put their hand over his, smiling sadly.

They would be okay – they all would be okay, in the future.

“C’mon.”, said Frisk, wearing his backpack. “We have a mountain to climb.”

* * *

 

Mt. Ebott wasn’t a particularly difficult mountain to climb – there was a path people could walk on most of the way. If not for the legends surrounding it, or the locals that warned tourists not to approach it, it would have been a famous touristic spot.

The sun shone above their heads – but the heat didn’t bother anyone because, although the day was sunny, the temperature was quite cold. Still, as they kept walking, Frisk felt his skin burning. Sunburns had been quite a common problem for him during summer – he didn’t expect to have to face it again with winter practically knocking on the door.

The cavern that lead to the entrance of the Underground, however, wasn’t in such an accessible way. If Frisk remembered right, it required climbing quite a tricky wall. Once they reached there, Papyrus and he engaged in climbing said wall. The skeleton did so with ease – they were quite athletic, after all. Frisk had way more trouble doing so. How did his ten year old self managed to do it six years earlier?

Nevertheless, he eventually did it. Once up there, Papyrus used his blue magic to carry MK towards them. After the three were there, safe and sound, they decided to take a quick break before continuing.

They were quite up in the mountain. The cold wind blew stronger, and Frisk’s nose quickly became desensitized. They weren’t nowhere near the top – the entrance to the Underground wasn’t there, anyway –, so the human was impressed with how cold it felt to be up there.

And then...

“This is it.”, said Frisk.

They were in front of a cavern’s entrance, somewhere nearby the middle of the mountain. Frisk was sure that was it, even though there was no visible indication that was the place they were looking for, he felt it. That was the same cavern he entered in a burst of curiosity six years before. The one that changed his life forever.

The inside of the cave was very dark, so the human opened his backpack to fetch the flashlight. He didn’t want to be tripping on vines to literally fall to the Underground. Again.

“ _’Those who climb the mountain never return.’_ ”, quoted MK, looking up. “Frisk... why did you climb this mountain in the first place, six years ago?”

The human wore his backpack again, thinking about the question.

“I guess I wanted to challenge the mountain.”, he replied, simplistically. “I didn’t believe the warnings that people made back in town, that it was dangerous, or the legends about monsters. I... wanted to go and come back, to prove everybody was wrong.”

But now that he thought about it, he felt that was only _half_ of the story. He couldn’t quite remember what his younger self was thinking that fateful day when he decided to climb Mt. Ebott, but he remembered feeling really bad. Maybe he actually wanted to go there and get lost forever? The thought made Frisk shiver.

Giving decisive steps, he entered the cave with the flashlight on, being followed closely by MK and Papyrus. A hot, humid wind blew on his face as he did so, and the air was filled with moisture. It smelled like something old – and yet, it also felt so familiar.

That was definitely the cave he had been looking for.

The cavern was rather extensive, too – and that was the selling point that made him want to explore it when he was younger. As the trio walked, no one exchanged a word, so the only sound was from the footsteps echoing on the walls. And as they approached their destination, Frisk’s heart began to beat faster – and almost in a delirious way, he thought he could hear its beatings echoing alongside their footsteps.

With a weird, sudden gut feeling, he focused the flashlight beam on the ground.

“Take care not to trip on this vine here.”, he said.

Frisk walked around it, and no more than some steps further, he came into a halt. He pointed the flashlight down... but couldn’t see the floor anymore.

They had reached a place that looked like some sort of chamber – one that had a gigantic hole in the middle, both in depth and circumference. With the faint flashlight’s beam, Frisk could see small roots and flowers that managed to grow in the dark surrounding it.

“Well, here it is...”, he mumbled, looking marveled at the pit. “The entrance to the Underground.”

His voice echoed for a while before everything went silent again. There was a weird noise coming from within the hole – almost like it was breathing, alive.

“WOWIE... IT IS A PRETTY GREAT FALL...”, said Papyrus, his voice tense. “HOW DID YOU SURVIVE, HUMAN?”

“There’s a bed of flowers on the bottom, so it’s a soft landing.”, explained Frisk, remembering his first moments on the Underground – of how amazed he was from still being alive after falling.

MK took a peek, looking over the human’s shoulder.

“We can’t even see the ground from here...”, he said, and from his voice it was clear he was afraid of going in there.

Frisk himself had to admit he was a bit anxious around the idea of jumping down that hole. Maybe tripping on that vine would have been a better idea. He wouldn’t even have noticed he fell.

“We didn’t come all the way here just to give up and walk away, did we?”, stated the human, trying to inspire confidence. “I’ll go first.”

He took a careful glance down the pit. MK was right – they couldn’t even see the bottom from there. As he stared the infinite darkness below, he felt it staring back at him – right into the deepest part of his soul, from his worst fears to his most desperate hopes.

“How do you know the bed of flowers is still there?”, asked MK, voicing a reasonable fear.

“I don’t.”

“Oh.”

On the inside, Frisk felt things would be different from that point on. Up until reaching Mt. Ebott, the dangers he faced had been very realistic – monsters and humans had tried to hurt and even kill him, either on purpose or in assumed self-defense. He _knew_ what he was up against. The Underground was supposed to be empty... but he couldn’t shake the feeling there was a different type of threat down there – much less recognizable... and much more menacing. He took a deep breath, getting ready.

“Only one way to find out...”

He jumped, and the darkness surrounded him, embracing the human in its cold arms.

* * *

_END OF ACT I_

 


	5. Once Again

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And now, the ending.  
> Thank you for being part of this.

_Act II_

* * *

 

_I sit beside the fire and think_

_Of people long ago_

_And people that will see a world_

_That I shall never know_

– J.R.R Tolkien, _The Fellowship of the Ring_

* * *

 

The feeling of free-falling was almost blissful.

Of course, the first second is nothing less than terrifying. The uncertainty of what’s waiting at the bottom – whether the bed of flowers is still there or not – is a contributing factor for this. However, after that, the body is taken by a happy sensation of lightness, almost like it’s flying. It feels, for a brief moment, that absolutely everything is possible.

And then, they hit the ground.

When Frisk opened his eyes, he wasn’t sure if he had passed out, or how much time had passed since the moment he hit the ground. Still, he was alive, and that was a great thing.

He was laid on a soft surface – the bed of golden flowers, he was certain of it. He slowly sat, looking at his surroundings. He was in a small chamber of sorts, which was bathed by a faint blue light that came from above. 

He then noticed he had landed exactly at the center of the bed of flowers – the only part where the flowers were still growing strong. The flowers around it had all withered – its golden color reduced to a putrid brown, smelling nauseatingly sweet. The human slowly stood up, thinking on how grim the situation was. Golden flowers could withstand all sorts of shortcomings, which meant that if they had withered, they had been left alone for quite some time.

He walked around for a bit, trying to recognize anything that could be useful, when a little light began flickering near him. He took a while to realize it was the flashlight he was holding when he jumped – and he was glad it had survived the fall. He’d need it. He picked it up and shook it a few times until the beam stabilized.

Then, he began to hear a sound coming from above. Weak at first, but it quickly grew in intensity, until Frisk got what it was – screaming. And very high-pitched at that.

With a loud thud, MK fell with their face flat on the center of the bed of flowers. Frisk jumped on the spot when that happened, and felt sick. 

Their body was limp and they were not moving.

The human felt all the air leave his lungs. The monster had fallen in a really bad position – what if they had they broken their neck? With an increasing panicking sensation, he approached them. The temperature of the cave felt like it went down several degrees.

Suddenly, MK moved, kicking his legs on the ground and sitting up, strangely agitated.

“I’m okay!”, he yelled. “I’m okay!”, he repeated once more, looking at Frisk.

The monster seemed to be having a hard time believing he was alright – and Frisk breathed relieved. He put his hand on his own chest, feeling the heartbeats getting to its normal frequency as he calmed down.

He helped MK stand up on their own feet, and they walked away from the bed of flowers.

“Where are we?”, asked MK, his voice echoing on the cave.

Frisk shone the light above them, looking at the hole. Just as from above they couldn’t see the ground, they also couldn’t see the ceiling from there – the flashlight’s beam didn’t reach that long. It made him wonder how long the fall actually was.

“The entrance of the Ruins.”, explained Frisk, directing the beam to the corridor in front of him. “There’s an exit up ahe-”

“NYAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!”

Both Frisk and MK jumped on their spots as that screaming sound quickly filled the place – before the owner of that loud, piercing voice, fell to the bed of flowers with a loud thud, too.

“OWWW...”, they groaned, standing on their fours. Frisk went there to help the skeleton stand up.

“Are you alright?”, he asked, trying to see if Papyrus was wounded somewhere.

“I’M... FINE...”, they replied, shaking their head to clear their thoughts. “JUST... _WOW_... HOW ARE WE EVEN ALIVE?”

Frisk looked up once more. As soon as Papyrus’ voice stopped echoing, the human could hear that weird, breathing noise the hole above their heads made.

MK walked towards them, looking to the ground with an intrigued expression. Frisk immediately knew they noticed the withered golden flowers around the bed’s center.

“Why are the flowers only alive at the center?”, they asked, more to themselves than to the others.

Papyrus scratched his the back of his head (or skull?), looking around in an attempt to make sense of what the reptilian monster had said.

“PERHAPS SOMEONE CAST A MAGIC SPELL HERE AT THE CENTER?”

“But then why _only_ at the center?”, pointed MK, kicking a withered flower, which turned to dust at his touch. “Why not on all flowers here?”

There was an awkward silence – it was clear Papyrus couldn’t think of an explanation for that.

“UGH, YOU ASK TOO MANY QUESTIONS!”, he objected, exasperated.

Frisk put his hand on his forehead – he could feel it throbbing. He got the odd feeling he once _knew_ the reason the flowers on the center had not withered – and it was much more sinister than the hypothesis Papyrus had raised. However, the answer had been lost in a previous timeline, leaving Frisk with little more than the sensation he once knew the answer, rather than having the actual explanation itself.

“Great.”, mumbled MK. “We’re not even five minutes in the Underground and nothing is making any sense.”

Frisk looked up, pulled away from his thoughts, and focused the flashlight’s beam back to the corridor in front of them.

“Let’s keep pressing forward, then.”, he said, beginning to walk. He felt the two monsters exchanging looks before following him.

It wasn’t particularly difficult to walk on the cave system of the Ruins – if anything, it felt really similar to what Frisk remembered from six years prior. However, this time everything was dark – which made the flashlight an absolutely necessary tool. It also felt colder now – the human was shivering under his coat. When he was ten, he was wearing nothing but that old striped t-shirt and some shorts – and he remembered being fine with that in that first part of the Underground.

They reached another chamber, and something got caught by Frisk’s flashlight that made him stop in his tracks, his blood running cold.

In the distance, he could see two sets of stairs – both of them leading to a large gateway that served as the official Ruins’ entrance. If memory served the human right, they used to be really well kept, but in the moment they were mostly crumbled, barely usable for them to access the gateway. However, it wasn’t that what made him stop – it was the patch of soil in front of it, the one that had several withered golden flowers forming a perfect circle, as if surrounding something that would normally be found in the middle.

Despite that, the center was empty.

“ _Howdy!_ ”, a voice echoed in Frisk’s head.

The human waited for a few moments, almost expecting _it_ to show up. He knew that was impossible – after all, he had killed _it_ all those years ago – but there was something in that patch of soil in front of him that still made him nervous.

“Uh... you okay, dude?”, asked MK.

Frisk quickly averted his eyes from the patch of soil, choosing to focus the flashlight’s beam on the stairs ahead. He wondered if the reptilian monster noticed what he had been staring.

“I-it’s nothing.”, said Frisk, failing to avoid his voice to stutter. “Let’s go.”

The trio began to walk once again – Frisk making sure they would keep their distance from that patch of soil. As they walked upstairs, a terrifying thought crossed the human’s head: if he managed to reset, _it_ would be back, too. He’d have to face _it_ again – and he was sure _it_ wouldn’t be happy for having being dead for six whole years.

Or would it?

* * *

 

_Frisk had always imagined that, if monsters existed, they’d live in dark, damp environments, with hazards everywhere so that their prey would be easily caught before they met their unescapable demise._

_The Underground – at least up until now – was nothing like that. He was in a weird, large cave, with purple walls that emitted a glowing light. That, allied with the torches, made the place really well lit. Somehow, vines had managed to survive there, and the whole place was well kept, even if a bit rough around the edges. What impressed him most was the air – it felt strangely fresh, even though he was deep inside Mt. Ebott._

_As he saw the frog-like creature hopping away from him, he wondered once again if he wasn’t dreaming._

_“Here, my child.”, called Toriel, a bit up ahead. “Let’s see if you can solve this puzzle on your own!”_

_Yes, the puzzles. Those were the closest things from the “traps” from Frisk’s imagination, and yet, they were nothing comparable to it. Up until that moment, they had been really easy (even in the case Toriel wouldn’t be there “helping” him), but kind of fun, too. There was something about pressing switches to open doors that just made him giggle._

_However, as he got next to Toriel and took a look at the platform in front of him, he could tell that would be a little more difficult. The path ahead of him was full of spikes – he needed to walk in a certain way so that the spikes would lower and he could progress, but how? He remembered reading a sign a little back, something about mirrors..._

_Oh, he got it. The corridor he just went was highlighted on the ground..._

_“Actually...”, slowly said Toriel, looking suspiciously at the spikes. “On second thought, this might be too dangerous for someone as small as you. Here, let me do this.”_

_Frisk took a good look at a set of spikes right in front of him. Its points were round – so they would hardly be any danger, but he decided to take the hand Toriel was offering him anyway. Her fur felt soft and warm on his fingers._

_As she led the way, the human remembered it had been sometime since he had held the hand of an adult like that. It gave him a weird sensation – comforting, because he felt there was someone there he could rely on, but also somewhat distressing. Like something bad was about to happen._

_He held her hand harder._

* * *

 

“Okay... okay.”, said MK, looking to the switches on the ground around them. “Now, Papyrus, jump to the switch northwest!”

Papyrus looked around, confused.

“WHICH NORTHWEST? _MY_ NORTHWEST OR _YOUR_ NORTHWEST?”

MK clicked his tongue, impatient.

“Your northwest.”

The skeleton readied himself for the jump.

“ALRIGHT... NOW, BEHOLD THE AMAZING LEAP FROM THE GREAT PAPYRUS!”

Frisk looked as Papyrus jumped from one switch to another (with a sounding “ _NYAAH_ ”, of course). A tension-filled second passed in which that happened, and when the skeleton pressed the new switch, it clicked, and nothing else happened. The human breathed, relieved.

Apparently, puzzles remained a common thing in the Underground. However, they turned way more deadly since Frisk left the place, and they discovered that the hard way when Papyrus stepped on a fake floor and it made a giant boulder come rolling in their direction. They escaped unscratched, and with the knowledge there were puzzles and traps all around them, they needed to proceed with more caution. MK was familiar with those puzzles, but was genuinely surprised they still worked. Fortunately, the reptilian monster, being a former member of the Royal Guard, still remembered the solutions, and soon became a living “walkthrough”.

In the moment, the three found themselves in some sort of giant board, with various switches on the ground, which needed to be pressed in a certain order so that the door ahead would be opened and the trap in the room deactivated. Each one of them was currently standing at different switches on the board, and MK was the one telling them what to do.

“Right... Frisk, your turn now.”, called MK. “The switch on your left, jump to it!”

The human looked to the switch the monster indicated, and felt a bit faint. It was kind of far, and he knew there wouldn’t be second chances if he miscalculated the jump.

“Uh... what did you say happened if we missed a jump or pressed the wrong switch?”, inquired Frisk.

“Oh, no big deal.”, replied MK, his voice oddly casual. “You know, just some deadly spikes come from the walls, the ceiling and the floor and we die a very slow and painful death.”

An uncomfortable silence fell upon the trio. The human gulped, his eyes fixed on the switch up ahead. Papyrus shifted nervously on his spot.

“THAT SOUNDS UNPLEASANT!”

“Yes, _very_ unpleasant.”, confirmed MK, somberly. “C’mon Frisk, I know you can do it!”

Hearing the yellow monster saying that apparently made Papyrus switch into “believing mode”.

“YES, HUMAN! I BELIEVE IN YOU!”

Frisk took a deep breath, not averting his eyes from the switch. He flexed his legs a little to gain some boost, and jumped. With his heart almost coming out from his mouth, he closed his eyes as he felt himself getting closer to the ground.

_Click_.

A noise was heard in the distance, and Frisk opened his eyes again. The door at the end of the room slowly opened, allowing them to proceed. He allowed himself to jump in the spot, laughing out of joy. Papyrus happily clapped, laughing as well.

“WE DID IT!”, exclaimed the skeleton.

“Good one, guys!”, said Frisk, walking to the center of the board, where MK was. Papyrus soon joined them.

The reptilian monster, however, still had a serious expression.

“We still need to cross the rest of the Ruins, you know...”, he said, dryly.

“YES, BUT EVERY VICTORY IS A VICTORY!”, replied Papyrus, patting MK on the back. “BESIDES, YOU’RE DOING GREAT BEING OUR GUIDE, MK! HOW DO YOU REMEMBER ALL THE SOLUTIONS?”

The yellow monster allowed himself to give a little smile with the compliment, and looked to the skeleton.

“Every Royal Guard member needed to know the solutions by heart after Undyne became the empress.”, explained MK. “Weren’t you in the Royal Guard, too?”

Yes, that’s right... if Frisk remembered correctly, Papyrus managed to enter the Royal Guard (on the “most important royal position”, no less) shortly after the human left the Underground. The skeleton looked to the ground, his eyes filled with a sudden sadness.

“I... I QUIT.”, he explained, simplistically.

Frisk raised his eyebrows, but he felt he wasn’t really impressed. True, when he met Papyrus, their dream was to become a member of the Royal Guard, so it was naturally strange for them to quit it after finally reaching their goal. Still, he wondered what had really changed in the Underground during the last six years, which made him think if their quitting was because they had changed, or because the Royal Guard had become something else – something Papyrus didn’t agree with. 

However, there was no use in dwelling in the past – they needed to keep going.

“C’mon.”, said Frisk, walking towards the door. “We still have a long way to go.”

The other two walked next to him, and began making their way through the Ruins once more in silence. The walls still glowed that faint purple light – but with no torches, the place was a lot more dark. Frisk noticed – not without a slight feeling on sadness in his heart – that the Underground was resembling a lot more the “monster’s cave” from Frisk’s imagination before he fell to that place six years before. The Ruins, despite their name, used to be lively and inviting. It wasn’t the case anymore.

After taking a very sharp turn, something inside the human told him to stop. He ceased to walk – surveying the area with the flashlight. MK and Papyrus stopped, looking curiously at him.

“HUMAN? WHY DID YOU STOP?”, asked the skeleton.

“I... think I remember this tunnel.”, replied Frisk, focusing the beam on the ground.

The tunnel looked rather normal, but he couldn’t shake the feeling there was something more than what appeared. Feeling a creeping type of anxiety installing in his heart, he took some careful steps forward – the flashlight still focused on the ground.

There it was.

Frisk could barely see it, but if he looked hard enough, he could see faint cracks on the ground – and he remembered where he was. Six years before, he had walked on that very same tunnel, that had those very same cracks on that very same ground – though, to be honest, said cracks were way more visible back then. Now, they were faded away.

Or maybe someone had tried to conceal them.

He decided to test it – putting the tip of his shoe on the cracked floor. His foot barely touched the floor when it gave away with a crumbling sound, forming a small, dark hole around where he had stepped. MK, who watched the whole scene, gasped in surprise.

“Holy hell!”, he exclaimed. “I forgot those...”, he added, ashamed.

“I guess we’ll have to jump across...”, commented the human, trying to see with the flashlight were the cracked floor ended.

That was something difficult to do – but from memory, Frisk remembered that specific hole wasn’t very big, so they could leap to the other side unharmed.

“Those cracked floors used to be everywhere in the Ruins when I fell six years ago.”, said Frisk, casually. “There was always a bed of flowers on the bottom...”

In all honesty, what he wanted with that comment was to lighten up the mood – which was necessary since all three of them were thinking what would have happened if Frisk had _not_ had that gut feeling telling him to stop. But of course MK shook his head, negatively.

“There are no flowers on the bottom anymore.”, he said, darkly. “Only very sharp spikes.”

Frisk snorted, exasperated.

“What’s up with the spikes everywhere, now!?”

“Hey dude, don’t look at me like that, it’s not like _I_ have designed the puzzles and traps here!”, said MK, defensively. “Who knows? Maybe Undyne really likes spikes or something.”

“OH, SHE DOES!”, affirmed Papyrus, happily. “SHE USED TO SHOW ME ALL HER IDEAS TO PUT SPIKES ON THE PUZZLES, AND THEY REALLY MADE THEM LOOK EVEN COOLER! I JUST WISH THEY WEREN’T SO... UH... DEADLY?”

The skeleton was giving them a sorry smile – like he was realizing he should have noticed adding spikes on the puzzles wasn’t such a good idea, after all.

There was a moment in which the three of them just stared at the cracked floor – each of them just as unwilling to jump across it as the other.

“FINE! I’LL GO FIRST!”, said Papyrus, trying to inspire courage. “THE GREAT PAPYRUS ALREADY PROVED HE CAN MAKE A GREAT JUMP, ANYWAY! NYEH HEH HEH!”

For the first time, Frisk felt Papyrus wasn’t saying that to brag about himself to others, but to actually make the fear he was feeling go away. The human watched expectantly as he ran towards the floor, jumping just before it... and falling safely to the other side. About a second later, in which the fact he was still alive and well was fully processed, he raised his arms in a display of victory.

“NYEH HEH HEH! I DID IT!”, he said, turning around to face the other two from across the cracked floor. “C’MON GUYS, IT’S NOT REALLY DIFFICULT! YOU CAN DO IT!”

Papyrus crossing the obstacle made Frisk and MK slightly more confident. The latter took some steps back, preparing for a jump.

“C’mon, MK, you got this!”, the reptilian monster mumbled to himself as he ran and jumped, also falling safely on the other side. Papyrus helped him to stand.

“YOUR TURN, HUMAN!”

Frisk retreated some steps, putting the flashlight in his pocket so it wouldn’t fall, and took a deep breath. He could do it – he had done it before, hadn’t he? And he didn’t come so far just to die in some random trap in the Ruins – no, he had to keep going.

He was filled with determination.

Unfortunately, determination alone doesn’t make anyone invulnerable to miscalculated jumps. That was exactly what happened – the human jumped a bit too early, and when he fell, the floor beneath him crumbled with his weight. Although it probably happened really quick, Frisk felt time passing slowly, watching Papyrus and MK’s shocked expressions pass by, and then the darkness of the pit he was falling into.

They say the amount of things one can think of while falling to their death is amazing, but Frisk could only think about how stupid his demise was going to be. It was so dumb it was almost laughable. 

“GOT YOU!”

Suddenly, the human stopped falling as Papyrus grabbed him by his wrist. He looked up and managed to make the skeleton’s relieved expression with the faint purple light from the place – although the pit beneath the tunnel’s ground was very dark. After some dreadful seconds, they pulled him up, and he fell with his back – scared for life, but safe and sound nonetheless.

Some time passed – enough so that Frisk’s heart could go back to its normal place (his chest, not his throat) – and the human finally sat on the ground, a little shaky, but fine. He glanced a look to the other two, who were staring at him with a mixture of relief and concern.

“Screw you, guys.”, he said, his voice hoarse. “That wasn’t even _close_ to easy.”

“UUH... ARE YOU OKAY?”

Papyrus sounded so earnest that any grumpiness Frisk could keep instantly melted away – and he laughed. Laughed at the situation he had just faced, and his own stupidity before it. The skeleton and the reptilian monster exchanged intrigued looks, laughing nervously as well, as the human stood up, facing the rest of the tunnel after the cracked floor.

“Let’s go.”, he said, his voice surprisingly firm. “The next puzzles won’t solve themselves.”

* * *

 

_The Underground was full of surprises, indeed. He never expected for plants and vines to grow down there – and yet, the Ruins were overflowing with them. It was surreal, and oddly inspiring, too._

_However, when Frisk found that dark, leafless tree, he couldn’t help but feel a bit sad on the inside. It reminded him of the couple of monsters that began picking on him back there, and how he..._

_He shivered. He didn’t want to think about that._

_Suddenly, a lonely leaf sprouted from the treetop – initially green, but quickly turning into a sickly yellow, then orange – until it finally detached from the tree and fell to the ground, joining the other leaves that had met the same fate before. It made Frisk feel strangely desolated, reminding him the Underground was a different world from his – not meant for him to stay._

_“...took way longer than I thought it would...”, Frisk heard a familiar voice approaching._

_Toriel came from behind the tree, but she didn’t notice him immediately, as she was too busy fumbling with her cellphone. He thought about calling her attention, but something held him back – that same sensation something was about to go wrong that he felt earlier._

_The goat monster then put the phone on her ear – and not a second later the cell phone she gave the human began vibrating and playing that basic, default calling tune. He picked it up, a bit astonished, and she finally noticed him – her expression becoming shocked and confused for a moment before she put the phone down and rushed to his direction, kneeling in front of him so they would be eye to eye._

_“My child, what are you doing here?”, she asked, clearly worried. “How did you find me? Are you hurt?”_

_Frisk was mostly intact – he just made a small bruise on his knee when he fell in a fake-ground trap earlier, but he was fine. Of course Toriel noticed it, though, and the human felt uncomfortable – he wasn’t used to that kind of attention._

_“I’m so irresponsible!”, she reprehended herself, clapping her hands. “I shouldn’t have left you alone to try and surprise you...”_

_She separated her hands, which began glowing a warm, pink light. She approached it from the bruise, and Frisk’s whole body was filled with a soothing, relaxing feeling. But then, his mind picked up on what she had just said. Surprise him?_

_He must have made a weird face, because she looked into his eyes and giggled._

_“Oh, I guess it’s no use trying to hide it from you!”, she said, standing up again. Frisk’s knee was fully healed, and was even in a better state than it was before he bruised it. “Come inside, my child!”_

_She offered her hand again, and the human hesitated for a second before grabbing it. She led them to a simple, yet cozy-looking house just behind the leafless tree. Was that her home?_

_Frisk was definitely not used to that kind of attention._

* * *

 

The human stood in front of the dark, lifeless house at the end of the Ruins. He knew he needed to enter it if he wanted to get out of there and reach Snowdin, but suddenly he felt like his feet were made of iron, refusing to leave the spot. 

MK and Papyrus stood close to him, both looking extremely uncomfortable. They knew what had happened there six years before, of course. They knew the terrible thing he had done back then.

“UM... ISN’T THERE, UH... ANOTHER WAY TO LEAVE THE RUINS?”, hesitantly asked Papyrus.

Frisk shook his head – half-decisive, half-desolated.

“The only way out of the Ruins at the basement of... _her_ home.”, he replied.

They kept in silence for a while. Neither of them knew exactly what to do.

“Undyne has kept the house untouched.”, stated MK. “In respect of her memory.”

“That’s... nice.”, commented Frisk, feeling his throat dry.

He could feel MK’s and Papyrus’ stares on him, and it made him want to sit down and cry right there. But he couldn’t do that – he needed to be strong. He needed to keep going.

“We don’t have to do this now, you know...”, said MK, empathic. “We can wait a little until you feel... ready.”

“YES, THAT’S RIGHT, HUMAN!” agreed Papyrus. “NO NEED TO PUSH YOURSELF TOO HARD!”

It was tempting – Frisk had to admit that much. But there was something scary about waiting, too. He didn’t want those dark, dangerous thoughts to cross his mind while he sat and waited to feel better. So he just shook his head, determined.

“No. We need to keep moving.”

Neither MK nor Papyrus said anything, but Frisk could feel they thought he was pushing himself beyond his limits by forcing himself to enter Toriel’s house in the state he was. Nevertheless, he wasn’t about to let that stop him.

With a shaky sigh, he glanced behind his shoulder – looking at the form of the dark tree that was there. Once upon a time, every leaf it grew immediately fell off, making the ground around it an ever growing pile of leaves. However, as he stepped inside the house, MK would tell him the tree had not grown a single leaf in six years.

* * *

 

_As soon as the door of the Ruins closed behind him, Frisk wondered if his desire to leave the Underground was actually rational. The place was freezing – the ground, against all logical explanations, was covered in thin snow._

_On the positive side, the cold temperature made him get out from his daze. He was feeling sad, scared and helpless – the last moments still confused in his mind. Toriel falling. That freakish flower teasing him over it. He was tired of all that – he wanted to get out of that place, he wanted to go back to the surface and, as crazy as it sounded, he wanted to go back to the orphanage. Not even there he felt so miserable._

_Embracing himself in a futile attempt to remain warm, the human began walking the only path he could – a straight trail in between the woods. The trees there were really high, and Frisk once again wondered how they managed to grow inside the mountain._

_Suddenly, he felt all the hair on the back of his head standing up – a weird, creeping feeling he wasn’t used to, like he was being followed. He quickly looked back._

_There was nothing to be seen._

_Hesitantly, he began walking forward again, trying to shrug off the feeling he just had as just his imagination playing tricks on him. He was very rattled from the previous events, so of course he’d feel some sort of anxiety. Yes, that made sense._

_He heard the noise of a stick breaking behind him._

_He turned around completely. There was definitely someone there, trying to creep up on him. He shivered, fully aware it wasn’t because of the cold. And then..._

_“human.”, called a very deep voice from just behind Frisk. He froze in fear. “don’t you know how to greet a new pal?”_

_The human’s first instinct was to call for help – but then, who would help him? The only being in the Underground that could have come to his aid wasn’t around anymore. He thought about running, but his legs were stiff and refused to move. Running out of options, he just kept there, feeling the panic slowly taking control while he could do nothing about it._

_“turn around.”, commanded the voice. “and shake my hand.”_

* * *

 

The faint light from the outside poured through cracks in the mountain, making the flashlight unnecessary, so Frisk turned it off. He needed to save the batteries, after all. He rubbed his hands close to his face, trying to warm himself a little. That place was still as cold as he remembered, and he was with more clothes on than he had been the previous time.

The trio stood before a sign – old and torn up in various places; most of its writing covered by frost. But Frisk could still read what it said. 

_Welcome to Snowdin_.

Six years prior, Snowdin Town was the happiest, coziest-looking town in the Underground, despite the cold and the snow. There were colorful lights everywhere, its inhabitants were nice and kind, and the places – from Bonnie’s shop to Sans and Papyrus’ house – were all lit up, inviting travelers to go inside and have a nice time with the locals. 

But everything changed, and Frisk could barely believe he was in that very same town.

There were no lights. There were no people. The constant chatter from the kids playing in the snow was gone, leaving only an empty silence in its place. In a sense, it was similar to the many other ghost towns he had visited during the past months, but there was something about Snowdin that made it feel like a different kind of desolation. Perhaps it was because he knew that, while in the towns of the surface people fled in an attempt to survive, in Snowdin the monsters that lived there – willingly or not – left to _start_ that war. The war to take the surface back.

“Snowdin has seen better days...”, said MK, his voice low, looking at Berna’s Inn with a deep sadness. He then looked to the human, who in turn nodded, understanding. Months prior, Frisk’s group had met Berna, her sister and her child hiding from the war inside a cabin in the woods. They got separated after some Royal Guard soldiers attacked the place, and the human had not heard of them since then.

The three of them walked across town in silence. Frisk noticed the pine tree in the center had been removed – he wondered when and why they had done it.

When they passed in front of what seemed a vacant house, Frisk couldn’t resist his curiosity and stopped, looking. Its windows were broken and dirty, and it seemed to have been abandoned for quite some time – and he didn’t remember from memory seeing any place like that the first time he visited Snowdin. He approached from a window, trying to peek inside, but the place was completely empty.

He then took some steps back, glancing a look to the neighboring places. A bit further by its left was the library (it’s sign now spelling the word correctly, which somewhat drained it from its charm), and further ahead by its right was Sans and Papyrus’ house. Which meant that place was...

“Is _this_ Grillby’s?”, asked Frisk to Papyrus, having a hard time believing that wrecked establishment was actually the famous bar of town.

Papyrus scratched his neck bone, looking sad.

“IT WAS.”, he confirmed. “BUT IT’S BEEN CLOSED FOR YEARS, NOW.” 

“What happened?”

“THE PATRON, GRILLBY, ALWAYS SAID WAGING WAR AGAINST HUMANITY WAS NOT A GOOD IDEA.”, explained Papyrus. “BUT WHEN PEOPLE REALLY STARTED HATING HUMANS, THEY BEGAN TO WRECK THE PLACE AND THREATEN THE REGULARS. SOON, HE COULDN’T AFFORD TO KEEP THE PLACE GOING, AND SHUT IT DOWN. I REMEMBER SANS GOT REALLY UPSET WHEN THAT HAPPENED.”

Frisk looked to the ground, feeling bad. During the previous six years, the Underground became a totally different place – more intolerant, more violent. In his mind, that was no better than the surface above. Perhaps the monsters fighting so fiercely for the surface was only fit, given the circumstances.

“And what happened to Grillby?”, he asked.

Papyrus’ expression got darker.

“I DON’T KNOW. HE DISAPPEARED SOON AFTER HE CLOSED THE BAR.”

Frisk gulped. The ones who disappear under those circumstances usually don’t find a happy ending.

MK seemed to notice the atmosphere there wasn’t very nice, so he intervened.

“Hey, it’s no use thinking about these things. We have to keep going, right?”

He looked to Frisk when he said that, and the human nodded nervously.

“Right.”

Feeling he was running away from the consequences of his actions, he reluctantly began walking next to Papyrus and MK. The snow under their feet was soft and clean, and their footsteps sounded muffled over it. As they proceeded, the air somehow got chillier, making Frisk recoil into his coat, though that didn’t stop his face from feeling numb.

Papyrus was the one who stopped in front of the house by the end of town. Frisk and MK proceeded a little further before noticing the skeleton wasn’t walking alongside them, but staring intensively at the house. The human and the yellow monster got back, a bit insecure.

“I MISS... THIS HOME.”

They looked to the ground with a bittersweet expression. Frisk wished he could say something, but nothing seemed appropriate.

“HEY, I DON’T KNOW ABOUT YOU, BUT I FEEL PRETTY BEAT!”, said Papyrus, suddenly. “HOW ABOUT WE SPEND THE NIGHT HERE?”

That was something neither Frisk nor MK were expecting. The two looked at each other, neither sure of what to reply, let alone do. It was true – after climbing the mountain and walking from the beginning of the Ruins until almost the entrance of Waterfall, the human himself was feeling very tired, so maybe a rest wouldn’t do him bad. But doing that in Papyrus’ former home? For some reason, that felt inappropriate – disrespectful, even.

“Uh, you sure about that?”, asked MK, breaking the awkward silence that fell upon the three. “We could rest in the Inn instead.”

Papyrus shook his head decisively.

“NO! I... THIS HOUSE IS JUST REALLY SPECIAL FOR ME, OKAY?”, stated Papyrus. “I WANTED TO SPEND JUST ONE LAST NIGHT HERE BEFORE THE... THE RESET THING.”

It was a reasonable thing to want, but Frisk wasn’t sure that was really healthy for Papyrus. For obvious reasons, that place was filled with memories of them and Sans, and the human didn’t want anyone to get sad or demotivated when that could be avoided.

“WELL, I’M GOING IN ANYWAY!”, announced the skeleton, and before any of the other two could object, he opened the front door – which had been left unlocked, for some reason – and entered.

Frisk and MK looked at each other for a moment, the latter shrugging, and they both went after Papyrus, entering the house, too.

It was like entering a portal to the past.

Everything in there was exactly the same as Frisk remembered. Sans’ pet rock on the table at the far side of the living room, the dirty sock next to the television, and even the quantum physics (or joke?) book on the little desk by the corner were in the same place they were six years before. Glancing at the second floor, he could also see the bone picture on the corridor’s wall and the various “warning signs” hanging on Papyrus’ bedroom door. The human reckoned that place had probably been the skeleton brothers’ safe haven from all the madness the Underground became.

Papyrus attempted flipping the light switch next to the entrance door, but nothing happened.

“NO ENERGY...”, he said. “I GUESS WE WON’T BE ABLE TO WATCH ANY MOVIES ON THE TELEVISION, THEN...”

He sounded sincerely disappointed, making Frisk and MK exchange amused looks. Meanwhile, the skeleton walked around the living room, looking at the things there.

“OH MY, IT’S SO DUSTY IN HERE!”

Indeed, the only thing that gave away the fact time had actually passed inside that house was the thin layer of dust that covered the floor and the furniture. However, Frisk thought there were more important matters they should take care of first if they were going to spend the night in there.

“Where are we gonna sleep here?”

The skeleton averted his eyes from the television, confused for a moment, looking to the human.

“OH, RIGHT!”, he said, scratching the back of his skull. “I’M GOING TO FETCH SOME SLEEPING BAGS IN THE SHED! JUST WAIT HERE!”

He passed by Frisk and MK and went back outside, leaving the two alone in the house. The reptilian monster, who had never really minded dusty environments, just crashed on the couch, closing his eyes. He got so quiet it was possible he had actually fallen asleep. Trying not to make any noises, the human wandered around the place.

The kitchen, like the living room, looked mostly intact, with the same obnoxiously tall sink at its back. He opened the fridge and coughed as he sensed the horrible smell of expired spaghetti leftovers. Well, they wouldn’t be eating _that_ , so he just closed the door.

He then decided to go upstairs, praying none of the steps creaked – but fortunately that didn’t happen as the house was still in pretty good shape. Once he reached the upper floor, he was immediately in front of Papyrus’ bedroom door. From up close, he could actually read the signs, and the door was full of them – from the regular ones like “ _KEEP OUT_ ” and “ _DANGER_ ” from the most peculiar ones like “ _NO GIRLS ALLOWED_ ”, “ _NO BOYS ALLOWED_ ” and “ _PAPYRUS ALLOWED_ ”. Frisk smirked, feeling his heart getting a little lighter.

He proceeded to the room at the other end of the corridor – which, compared to Papyrus’, didn’t have any signs and looked rather plain, although Frisk remembered a strange, multicolored smoke coming from under it when he visited the house the previous time.

That could only be Sans’ bedroom. Frisk’s hand touched the doorknob, the temptation of turning it and seeing what was inside getting higher and higher. Perhaps the answer for him keeping his memories across the reset was there? 

He dropped the knob.

No, that would feel _wrong_. He knew in his heart that Sans wouldn’t keep something like that in his bedroom. If he entered, he’d be prying into something particular, and he was sure Papyrus wouldn’t like it. He turned around and went downstairs.

As soon as he touched the ground floor, Papyrus burst the front door open, carrying three sleeping backs over his shoulder that seemed in okay conditions. MK jolted up, scared, looking over the couch to the skeleton with a frightened look for a moment.

“ _Yo_!”, he yelled, before crashing down to the couch and getting back to sleep again. Papyrus looked puzzled, and Frisk snorted a laugh, walking towards the skeleton.

“I guess we won’t need one of the bags, huh?”, said the human, taking one of the bags from the skeleton’s shoulder.

“I GUESS NOT!”, agreed Papyrus, tossing one of the bags aside, and keeping the other. Surprisingly, MK didn’t even move from the sound of the skeleton’s voice.

They decided to leave the sleeping bags next to each other, in front of the couch. They were beige and simple, but looked comfortable enough, and Frisk was suddenly taken by the desire to dive in one of them and finally take a good, needed rest. However, it seemed Papyrus wasn’t quite finished with his preparations.

“I THINK I HAVE SOME PILLOWS IN MY ROOM! I’M GONNA FETCH THEM!”, he said, going upstairs in some sort of silent jogging. “FOR EXTRA COMFORT!”, he completed from the upper floor, going into the bedroom.

That was certainly amusing. Frisk glanced a look to the sleeping bags on the floor, then to MK and then to the open bedroom door upstairs. Well, that was turning into the closest thing to a slumber party he had ever been in, so he could as well see what the skeleton was up to, since the reptilian monster was already sleeping.

He climbed the stairs again, and once he reached Papyrus’ bedroom he didn’t enter immediately, as he just stood by the door, looking.

Frisk had only been in that bedroom once (in a very... _unique_ situation, no less), but its details were carved into his mind. The pirate flag, the bookshelf, the action figures and the racecar-shaped bed stood in the exact same places they did for six years. Papyrus himself was sitting on the bed, holding something the human couldn’t identify from that distance.

As Frisk approached the bed and sat next to the skeleton, they let out a long sigh, filled with melancholy. He noticed they had picked the pillows up – three big, fluffy ones that were pilled up on each other. He also finally could see what Papyrus was holding – a white t-shirt with the words “Cool Dude” in the middle. Basketball balls were drawn on each shoulder region. The shirt itself was visibly old, its colors faded probably from the various washings it went through.

“SORRY...”, said Papyrus, looking to the human and giving a little smile. “I’M JUST FEELING A BIT HOMESICK, I GUESS...”

Frisk put his hand on the skeleton’s shoulder, trying to comfort them.

“It’s alright, you don’t need to apologize for that.”

Papyrus then raised the t-shirt in front of him, analyzing it.

“I ALWAYS LIKED THIS T-SHIRT!”, he commented, now fully smiling. “EVEN WHEN IT GOT OLD AND THE FABRIC BEGAN GETTING WORN OUT, I STILL WORE IT!”

The human laughed, remembering he had actually seen Papyrus in that shirt before. It was one of his oddest – yet also funniest – moments of his life. A good memory, one could say.

“I can get you a new one once this is all over.”, he said, absentmindedly.

Papyrus looked at him, happy.

“OH, THANK YOU HUMAN, YOU’RE TOO KIND!”, they said, but then their expression turned confused. “BUT, UH... WHEN THIS IS ALL OVER, WON’T I, UH... _FORGET_ ABOUT THIS? BECAUSE YOU WILL HAVE RESET AND ALL...”

It was as if the air inside Frisk’s lungs had gotten colder. He said that without thinking – of course, Papyrus was right. He needed to be more careful with what he said, however. He didn’t want to give the wrong impression to the skeleton or to MK.

“Yes, of course.”, Frisk quickly added. “I meant I’d buy you one when I get everyone to the surface in the new timeline.”

Papyrus seemed contented enough with the answer.

“OW, THANK YOU!”, they said, giving the human a side hug, which made him feel a little awkward, although he actually liked the gesture. “EVEN IF I WON’T REMEMBER YOU SAID YOU’D BUY ME ONE, THANK YOU!”

After they let go of Frisk, the human smiled back.

“Don’t worry.”, he said, winking. “I will.”

After that, Papyrus put the t-shirt back into the wardrobe, and they and Frisk picked the pillows up and headed downstairs. Papyrus took care of MK, lifting their head to put the pillow below it. The reptilian monster grunted some unintelligible words, but didn’t wake up. Meanwhile, Frisk tucked himself into his sleeping bag – and if his back could speak, it probably would thank him for not sleeping on hard ground for yet another night.

After the skeleton was done with MK, they too lay into their bag. As they were really tall, they needed to flex their knees so they would fit in. Silence filled the house, and it didn’t take long for Frisk to start feeling drowsy.

He had a lot to worry about. He wondered if he’d manage to make the reset happen, and if he’d find a way to keep his memories across it. However, the question that sprouted in his tired mind in that moment wasn’t related to any of that. He turned around, facing Papyrus, who was still wide awake.

“Papyrus?”, he called, softly.

“HM?”, they answered.

“Why did you leave the Royal Guard?”

Silence filled the room again, and Papyrus looked as if there was a lot going through his own head, too.

“I DIDN’T LEAVE THE ROYAL GUARD.”, he replied. “THE ROYAL GUARD LEFT ME.”

* * *

 

_The place had little to no light, and Frisk was running on some very unreliable platforms, but he couldn’t slow down. Not when Undyne was hunting him down, throwing spears and summoning traps around him. Somehow, he managed to avoid it all – but it was only a matter of time. If he didn’t lose her soon..._

_And then, he didn’t have anywhere else to run to. The platform had suddenly ended, and the human almost fell to the darkness below, barely managing to balance himself. He turned around only to find Undyne a few feet from him. He froze._

_She was looking at him. She was wearing a helmet which made her eyes difficult to see, but Frisk knew she was looking at him – probably thinking on the best way to finish him off. He recoiled._

_Undyne raised her hand, and a spear flew through the platform, cutting the wood that served as support. The planks fell off from under Frisk’s feet – and for the second time since he entered the Underground, he was falling._

_The last thing he saw before the darkness engulfed him was Undyne staring down._

* * *

 

The garbage dump reeked. Of course, it reeked too six years before, but since then its smell had gotten even fouler. Perhaps it was due to the fact there was three times more junk in there in the moment. Even walking there was difficult – but it was the only way currently available, so Frisk, MK and Papyrus just held their breaths for as long as possible and soldiered through. 

They were in Waterfall, one of the deepest parts of the Underground, and Frisk’s flashlight was, for most of the time, the only source of light available. From time to time, they’d see the faint glow of an echo flower growing lonely somewhere – and the fact they were completely silent just added to the foreboding feeling that had been chasing the trio for a while.

Suddenly, Frisk tripped on something – his flashlight flying away, landing several feet ahead of them. He fell on all fours over the trash, feeling his left palm throbbing. Oh no, had he cut it?

“Dammit...”, he said after a sigh, wiping the blood on his pants.

“ARE YOU ALRIGHT, HUMAN?”, said Papyrus, approaching to help him stand.

The human mumbled something to thank the skeleton as he took their hand to stand up again. Up ahead, the flashlight’s beam gave its position away, and the three walked towards it – taking care not to trip on anything.

When Frisk bent down to pick it up – with his alright hand, of course – he caught sight of something that made him hesitate for a little while. Then, he grabbed the flashlight alongside the item that had caught his attention. It was a book, though it wasn’t in its best conditions – the front cover was torn up and some pages were molded, but he recognized it.

_Alice in Wonderland_ , by Lewis Carroll.

He smiled, resigned. Like Alice in the story, he too fell in his own rabbit hole – but now he was far too deep into it to simply turn around and go back to his old life, to his old normality.

“What’s that?”, asked MK, trying to have a better look at the book.

Frisk tossed it to the ground, shrugging.

“Nothing important.”

From the look in their face, he hadn’t really satisfied their curiosity, but Frisk wasn’t really wanting to explain it. He began walking again, MK and Papyrus following him closely on their way out of the garbage dump.

Once they left that place, their surroundings got immediately less smelly, but not any less dark. They found themselves back in the cold, moisturized walls of Waterfall – the sound of water falling in the distance echoing through the deserted corridors. Even though the Underground was a massive place, none of them had any difficult navigating there – the many reference points made it very easy even for Frisk to recognize where he was going.

When the cave finally opened, the three stepped into a stone bridge – a faint, reddish light coming from their front. Frisk instinctively looked up, above the following cavern’s entrance, almost expecting to see Undyne jumping down from there, ready to battle him. For some unknown reason, the memory made him smile.

They entered yet another, bigger cave. The cold moisture from Waterfall slowly began to be replaced by the scalding temperature from Hotland, which was just up ahead. They passed by a big, electronic sign which in the moment was completely shut down, as the cavern walls began changing in color – from a relaxing blue to an energized orange. As the the natural light from the place went brighter and the temperature higher, they reached the arrangements of stone bridges and high-tech platforms that composed Hotland.

Both Frisk and MK took the coats and sweaters they had been wearing as they walked through the place – the heat getting more and more unbearable. Papyrus, not being affected by the temperature, didn’t need to change anything.

They didn’t have to walk much longer to spot the big, white building in the distance, not marked by anything but the word “ _LAB_ ” above the automatic door. Looking from there, it looked rather ominous – like it was the home of an evil, mad scientist, but when Frisk visited it the previous time he just found the extremely quirky, nerdy place Alphys worked on. He wondered if it had resisted time, like Sans and Papyrus’ house, or if it had drastically changed, like pretty much everything else.

When they reached the lab’s entrance, Frisk pressed the button next to it to see if it opened. Not coming as a surprise to anyone, it didn’t. The human passed his hand on his forehead, drying the sweat that was forming there, looking around.

“THE UNDERGROUND IS IN COMPLETE BLACKOUT!”, stated Papyrus. “THERE’S NOT A SINGLE PLACE WITH ENERGY... I WONDER IF SOMETHING HAPPENED AT THE CORE?”

“It’s possible.”, said MK in turn. “I mean, nobody has checked it in months, and the Core always needed constant maintenance.”

As much as Frisk wanted to discuss the reason for the Underground’s lack of electric energy, there were more important matters at hand.

“We can’t get through.”, he said, clicking his tongue. “And the only other way around leads to an elevator, but we can’t use it if there’s no energy...”

But then, he took a good look at the lab’s door. His heart skipped a beat when he noticed it actually wasn’t completely closed – there was a very small gap in between, with barely enough size for Frisk’s fingers to fit in.

“There’s an opening here!”, exclaimed Frisk, putting his fingers in the gap and attempting to pull the door open, although it hardly moved an inch. “Papyrus, give me a hand!”

The skeleton promptly grabbed the gap too – and together, they both began pulling the door. It was tough, but little by little they managed to open it, until the gap had a reasonable size so they could all squeeze through.

The inside of Alphys’ laboratory was way fresher than the rest of Hotland, which came as a welcoming change. The trio stood by the entrance, the orange light from outside pouring a bit inside from the gap – although the majority of the place was still shrouded by darkness.

“Uh... what now?”, asked MK, his voice echoing in the empty lab.

“There’s another exit at the other end of this corridor.”, explained Frisk. “Let’s just hope we can open it, too...”

So far, things have been working pretty well for them in the Underground – the human just hoped it would stay that way, as they were getting closer and closer to the barrier. They began walking across the dark lab – Frisk’s flashlight becoming once again the only source of light available to guide them.

The human looked around as he walked. The lab was aesthetically the same, but it looked way more organized. There were no videogame walkthroughs scattered around the desks, no comic books or mangas on the floor, not even old anime DVDs he remembered Alphys was so fond of. The hole in which Mettaton had crashed through to “ambush” Frisk was fixed. For the first time, it actually looked like a proper lab – and oddly enough, that felt extremely out of place, like the traps in the Ruins or the library with the correctly spelled sign at Snowdin.

As they approached the exit, the place got colder, and Frisk started to feel a strange discomfort at the pit of his stomach – which grew and grew with every step he took. He then stopped with a sudden halt, although MK and Papyrus kept going for a while before they noticed he did so.

He was feeling _extremely_ anxious. At first, he attributed that to the cold temperature, but he was realizing that was not it. No – that particular sensation felt too familiar for him to mistake it.

He was remembering something. Something _important_.

“What’s up, dude?”, asked MK, while he and Papyrus approached the human again.

The cold sensation went up to his forehead, and Frisk put his hand there, closing his eyes. Something important... something...

“ _If you want to learn ‘the truth_ ’ _..._ ”, were the words that appeared in his mind.

Turning 90 degrees left, he slowly opened his eyes.

There was a mirrored-glass door there, with a small bathroom sign next to it. He cautiously approached it while MK and Papyrus just observed, apprehensive. He touched the door, looking for a knob.

“Um... you gotta use the bathroom?”, asked MK, nervous.

There wasn’t any knob on the door. The uncomfortable sensation increased... something there...

He then took some steps back, grabbing the flashlight with his mouth as he pulled his backpack and opened it, searching for his handgun. When he pulled it out, he tried to ignore Papyrus’ distressed look and MK’s confused expression – which only got more intense as he pointed it at the glass door.

“What the..!?”, began MK.

_BANG!_

With a single shot, the glass door shattered, revealing the dark passageway ahead. He put the gun back in his backpack as he approached the now open entrance, taking care with the broken glass on the floor. He barely crossed the door when a bright light turned on, making all three of them squint their eyes. The distinctive noise of a large electronic device working – a sound Frisk had not heard in a long, long time – filled the place.

The passageway lead to an elevator. Papyrus was astonished.

“THAT’S NO BATHROOM!”

Frisk entered, being followed closely by the reptilian monster and the skeleton.

“How is this working?”, asked MK, looking around in awe.

“The lab has a generator.”, explained Frisk, although it felt the words were getting out of his mouth by themselves. “This one is running on backup power, though.”

MK looked at Frisk, completely dumbfounded.

“How do you _know_ that?”

The sensation in the human’s stomach was more intense than ever, and he embraced himself, avoiding to look at MK.

“I’ve _been_ here before.”, he reluctantly said. Both MK and Papyrus understood, and didn’t ask anymore questions.

Truth was, he hated remembering things from the other timelines. It felt as though he had stolen someone else’s memories and was using them to cheat on the future, which made him feel a bit sick. However, he knew that was necessary – he knew that was something that needed to be done if he wanted to accomplish the reset.

The elevator’s panel had only two buttons. The upper one, which was currently lit up, obviously was for the floor they were in. The lower one...

“This is it...”, slowly said Frisk, suddenly feeling excited. “The hidden laboratory!”

And that meant a lot – the human knew it, but MK and Papyrus didn’t understand and just looked to the human, puzzled.

“HIDDEN... LABORATORY?”, repeated Papyrus.

“The laboratory in which the most secret experiments were done.”, Frisk quickly explained. “Mostly regarding on how to break the barrier. Only a handful of people could normally access it – the Royal Scientist and maybe one or two of their most trusted colleagues. Sans mentioned it for us the day after the war broke out, remember, Papyrus?”

Papyrus’ expression suddenly became clarified – he too was remembering his brother had said something to that effect all those months prior, when they had filled the human in what happened in the Underground. MK, however, still seemed as clueless as ever.

“That’s nice and all, but what does this have anything on what we’re supposed to do?”, they asked.

Frisk took a deep breath. Something...

“Because...”, he said, slowly. “The answer is there. The secret for me to keep my memories – the secret of how Sans kept his memories – across the resets, is down there. I know it.”

Papyrus gasped. MK’s eyes lit up. That whole time, the reptilian monster was worried about how Frisk would keep his memories, so he wouldn’t make the same mistakes again. They looked at the elevator’s panel, contemplative.

“I guess we have no choice...”, said MK, turning around to face Frisk again. “But to go straight into hell then, right?”

Frisk nodded, firmly. All his memories – the ones he had from the current timeline, and from the ones before it – they were all centered in that laboratory, and the secrets it held. He was as sure of this as he was sure of his own name. The answers _were_ there.

With a quick look to MK and Papyrus, each giving a determined nod, Frisk pressed the button on the panel, and the elevator’s doors closed again.

They descended.


	6. Bad Memory

As the elevator took them to the hidden laboratory, Frisk and MK put their various layers of clothes back on. They could withstand the cold if it meant that they soon would be back into Hotland – but that certainly wasn’t the case anymore. They were about to spend quite some time wandering in that place. 

One minute passed – the only noise hearable was that of the elevator working. The human wondered, nervously, how deep inside the earth they were at that moment.

And then, it stopped.

The elevator’s door opened with a strong, reverberating noise. Its light poured lonely inside the lab – although everything a few steps away was engulfed by the dark.

Hesitant, Frisk stepped inside the hidden laboratory – the frosty atmosphere making small clouds of mist appear in front of his face as he breathed. He turned the flashlight back on – and to his horror, the beam began flickering badly, as if it was about to fail.

“Not _now_...”, worriedly mumbled Frisk, hitting the grip softly with his other hand until the light became stable once more.

Papyrus and MK stepped outside – their breaths also forming little clouds of mist in front of them – and the elevator door closed, making the flashlight the only source of light available once more. Frisk quickly glanced around, trying to get a grasp on the surroundings. He found an old, empty vending machine and some big monitors on the walls – but other than that, there was nothing else much of interest.

“This is where Alphys kept the amalgamates.”, said Frisk, his voice a just a little louder than a whisper.

Papyrus seemed uncomfortable.

“POOR THINGS!”, he commented. “USED TO BREAK THE BARRIER... AS IF THEY WERE DISPOSABLE!”

There was a hidden pain underneath the skeleton’s words that Frisk somehow understood. Of course, Undyne was the one who demanded Alphys to test the amalgamates on the barrier. Before the human entered the Underground six years before, Papyrus and the now empress had been close friends. It must have been difficult for him to cope with the fact Undyne had changed so drastically after she became the ruler of the Underground – willing to do anything to escape their confinement and take the surface back.

In a sense, Asgore had done the same before her. He too made terrible decisions with the intention of freeing monsters from the Underground – including killing the innocent children that fell before Frisk. He wondered if, like Asgore, Undyne regretted her decision of waging war on humanity.

“What do we do now?”, asked MK, pulling the human away from his thoughts.

Frisk looked to MK and Papyrus, who were clearly expecting him to give some directions. Well, he had taken them there, hadn’t he?

“Let’s have a look around.”, the human replied. “There must be a clue or something in here...”

And so, they began walking through the hidden laboratory corridors. Frisk had the strange feeling he had wandered there before, but he couldn’t remember anything more concrete. He was as clueless on what to do or where to go as the monsters who followed him – but he lead the way nonetheless.

The three stumbled upon a room with lots of beds disposed, like an infirmary of sorts. Despite being abandoned for at least several months, it still held that distinctive hospital smell. Cabinets by the walls were filled with unknown substances Frisk didn’t bother with in the moment.

Every time they found a door, they opened it, hoping it would shed a light on their objective, but they only found empty offices or cupboards filled with cleaning products. One room, however, seemed to be more promising, with a huge computer by its corner. Perhaps it was the main CPU used in the laboratory? There could be something in there...

Frisk pressed the button next to the huge monitor, but it didn’t turn on. He cursed in his mind – of course, with only backup power available the computer wouldn’t work, but he’d be lying if he said he didn’t have any hopes that would work. He gave a tired sigh.

“We need to restore the main power.”, said Frisk, at least glad he had found a concrete objective to aim for. “Let’s find the generator room.”

He wasn’t sure how he knew there was a generator room in there – but he did. At least MK and Papyrus nodded firmly, happy to hear the decisive tone in his voice. They got out of the room and Frisk glanced around, trying to imprint the surroundings in his memory so he’d be able to make the way back again – which wasn’t an easy task, since pretty much everywhere in the laboratory looked about the same.

They walked – the atmosphere around making them feel extremely uneasy. Nobody spoke and they remained in a tense kind of silence, as if just expecting something to jump at them in the next corner. Frisk shook his head, trying to clear his thoughts. He was being silly – there was no one else in the lab besides them. _Right_?

But the sooner they got out of there, the better. Wandering around an abandoned laboratory with the only source of light being from a tiny flashlight most definitely didn’t make them feel comfortable.

They got into a big chamber, and Papyrus gasped, looking at the big machine on the center. Frisk walked around, shining the flashlight over it, and he too became amazed. The machine was gigantic, red in color, and strongly resembled a skull – or maybe a terrified face. It wasn’t pleasant to look at in the slightest.

“WHAT IS THAT!?”, asked Papyrus, a bit shaky. “AND WHY DOES IT LOOK SO... _HORRIFYING_!?”

MK gave a nervous laugh.

“I bet Dr. Alphys thought it looked cool.”

Frisk, who was searching for anything that could identify what that machine had been used for, made a dismissive sound with his mouth.

“Alphys would never come up with such a freaky design by herself...”

There, he found it – a small, silver sign he needed to approach to read the half-erased words.

“‘ _DT Extraction Machine’.”_ , the human read out loud, glancing a look at the machine. MK looked at him, puzzled.

“What’s ‘ _DT_ ’?”

The answer came swiftly into Frisk’s head, and he didn’t even need to think hard about it.

“Determination.”, he replied, trying to get a better look on the machine. “So it was with this thing Alphys got determination from the souls of the humans who fell befo-”

Before he could complete the sentence, there was a sudden, loud noise behind him – which almost made his heart skip from his mouth. MK jumped on his spot, startled. Papyrus wheezed, putting his hand on his chest to calm himself down.

Not only was there sound, but there was also light coming from somewhere immediately behind them. The three turned around, confused.

There was a big monitor hanging on the wall – and it had turned on by itself. The screen, however, was only picking up static – the speakers emitting white noise as well. It was piercing, annoying and highly unsettling. The trio stood there, unsure of what was going on. Then, as suddenly as it had started, it stopped – the monitor turning back off, making Frisk’s flashlight once again the lone light source of the environment.

With his heart beating fast from the scare, the human began wondering what had just happened. The main power – the one which presumably powered computers, machines, and monitors – was supposed to be out. Then, how did the monitor in the room turned on – _by itself_ , nonetheless?

“What was _that_?”, asked MK, their voice full of anxiety. Frisk showed his palm to the monster, in a sign for them to stop talking.

The place was completely silent. Except...

“Hear that?”, asked Frisk to the two monsters, and they both nodded.

There was a faint, static sound coming from a room just a bit further ahead of them. After their recent experience, none of them were willing to go investigate strange noises in that empty laboratory – but it was not like they could just simply ignore it, either. Gathering all the courage he could find within himself, Frisk stepped forward, walking through the following corridor, with MK and Papyrus just behind him.

It was pretty clear when they found the room in which the source of the noise was located, as it got considerably stronger in there. Trying to control his trembling hands, he slowly turned the doorknob, and the trio carefully entered the room.

In his paranoia, Frisk was half-expecting to see someone in there – but of course there wasn’t anybody in the room, and he released his breath. The room was very simple – a TV set in the back, between two shelves full of old VHS tapes. The static noise was coming from a small, portable recorder on top of the same desk the TV was on.

The human carefully approached it, intending to turn the recorder off. As it was portable, meaning it was run by batteries, at least it made more sense for it to turn on than the monitor on the Dt Extraction Machine chamber. However, that thought wasn’t really comforting.

As soon as he picked the recorder on his hand, though, the static noise got suddenly louder – its piercing sound making Papyrus instinctively cover the place where his ears would be, which would have been comic if Frisk himself wasn’t feeling so scared. A low, grunting voice began to speak through the white noise.

“ _Come... join... the... fun... come... join... the... fun... come... join... the... fun...”_

It sounded extremely unnatural, like someone was speaking through a voice changer. Sometimes it was high-pitched, some parts came off low-pitched, and the effect was maddening. Frisk frantically searched the object for a button to turn it off.

“ _Comejoin... thefun... come... jointhefun... join... the... comejoin...”_

The voice was speeding up.

“ _God_ , just turn this thing off already!”, complained MK, not hiding the unsettlement in his voice.

“I _can’t_ find the button!”, replied Frisk, exasperated.

“Then take the damn batteries off!”

The human turned the recorder on his hands, opening the lid where the batteries would normally be placed.

His heart sank, and he held it up so MK could see the problem. Their eyes widened and their face became unnaturally pale.

There were no batteries.

“ _Funfunfunfunfunfunfunfun...”_

Suddenly, Papyrus snatched the recorder from Frisk’s hand and threw it on the ground, stepping furiously on it. Frisk never saw – or expected to see, in fact – the skeleton acting like that. He kept stomping on it until all the noises stopped, leaving the recorder completely destroyed in the process.

A welcoming silence fell upon them, broken only by Papyrus shaky breath. They all felt relieved – but tension was still high in the air.

“Well, that solves it.”, said MK, smiling at the skeleton, who was still too shaken up to give a proper answer.

Suddenly, a shadow passed by the door – so quickly Frisk barely noticed. Being the only one facing the door, he was also the only one who shouted in shock, pointing his flashlight at the door and automatically searching for the gun in his pocket – before he remembered he had put it in his backpack.

“W-WHAT HAPPENED?”, asked Papyrus, glancing nervously at the door.

Frisk, feeling his mouth extremely dry, started coming to a very dreadful realization.

“I... I don’t think we’re alone.”, he replied, grimly.

MK’s eyes widened, and he looked apprehensively at the door, and then back at then human.

“Wha..? What do you mean?”, he asked.

“I mean there’s some... _one_ else besides us down here.”

For a moment, Frisk almost said “something”, but he quickly changed his mind. Even then, he wasn’t too sure if it was better for the two monsters to think there was another human or monster down there – or yet _another_ type of being entirely. Still, whatever had passed by the door didn’t look... well, _solid_. It resembled some sort of shapeless shadow.

“UH... MAYBE IT WAS ONE OF THOSE... WHAT DID YOU CALL THEM, HUMAN? _AMOLGAMADES_?”, asked Papyrus, forcing a smile.

“Amalgamates.”, Frisk corrected automatically, shifting the weight on his feet, uncomfortably. “And... I don’t know. Maybe?”

But according to what Sans had told him all those months ago, the amalgamates were used as substitutes to human souls, dying in the process. Still, maybe one of them escaped and had been wandering alone in the hidden lab for all that time?

Trying to look braver than he was actually feeling, Frisk approached the door and glanced a look to both sides of the corridor. It was completely silent, and everything seemed to be in place – there was not a trace of the shadow that passed.

“We’re fine.”, he said, more to himself than to the two monsters who were nervously waiting right behind him. “We just need to be careful. Now let’s find this generator – the sooner we get lights, the better.”

And with that, the three reentered the mazy corridors. Frisk noticed they were walking closer to each other than they were before the episode with the monitor, the radio and the mysterious shadow – and (not without a slight feeling of shame) he realized he actually liked it that way. He knew they weren’t any safer by doing that, but it was psychologically comforting for some reason.

It was actually really easy to get lost in there – Frisk accidentally conducted them back to the infirmary room two times, and was getting really frustrated when he finally saw something new in those corridors: another elevator. MK noticed it, too, and as they passed by he kept looking, thoughtful. 

“Hm... wonder where this one leads to?”

The human once again had that weird sensation he knew the answer – yet couldn’t remember it. He shrugged it off, but decided to mark the elevator in the back of his mind – it could be important.

Fortunately, the generator room wasn’t much farther ahead than that. It was pretty obvious when they found it – a passageway noticeably bigger than the other rooms, which lead to a fairly big chamber with large pipes hanging on either side of the room. Some familiar-looking machines were by the end. Be it on the surface or in the Underground, energy generators looked all too similar to each other.

The trio entered the chamber, Frisk walking a bit faster in excitement. _Finally_ , they were making progress. They just needed to see what was wrong with the generator.

The human investigated the outside appearance of the machine first – it seemed okay.

“How do you intend on fixing this thing, man?”, asked MK, looking curiously at the machine.

Somehow, the human managed to smile at the question.

“Remember we helped Barry fix the prison generator back then?”

MK snorted, giving a little smile – but looking a bit sad, too. Frisk couldn’t help but be reminded of Leonard, Eileen and the rest of their resistance group (including, with a sting in his heart, Chris). It felt like so much time had passed since him and the reptilian monster had encountered them.

The human was about to open the largest generator’s panel when he began hearing a very unpleasant noise that made his blood run cold.

_Static noise_. The same one they had heard not long before.

It seemed to be coming from the entrance of the generator room – and Frisk immediately turned around to shine the flashlight’s beam there. MK and Papyrus noticed the sound too and kept their eyes glued to the same spot with bated breath.

Yet – this time it was different. It sounded like the static noise was slowly approaching them – getting louder and louder by the second. Frisk fought the urge to cover his ears to protect them from that hellish sound.

And then, it appeared.

It was just like the thing Frisk caught a glimpse of earlier – a strange, dark shadow that seemed to be made of something more solid than smoke – but even then, it didn’t seem solid _enough_. It hovered about a feet over the ground, and didn’t have a defined shape – its whole “body” constantly twisted around itself, except for the holes in the center that resembled an expression of agony.

“What is _that_!?”, exclaimed MK, giving some steps back, looking utterly repulsed. 

Frisk’s breath was erratic and his heart was beating fast inside his chest. He didn’t want to stick around long enough to discover what that thing was.

However, just as he was about to run past it, he heard a loud noise coming from the walls of the generator room – the distinctive sound of gas leaking from pipes. He looked around, noticing the static noises seemed to have tripled, and his heart sank. Two other shadow things had appeared – and alongside the one that had come through the entrance door, they were all closing on the human and the two frightened monsters.

Frisk didn’t know what to do. They were trapped. His instincts told him to run away, but he couldn’t feel his legs. Among the static sounds, he began hearing voices underneath – and they sounded strikingly similar to the one he had heard on the recorder earlier.

“ _Join... the... fun._ ”

“ _Always... watching you. I’m always... watching..._ ”

“ _It’s dark it’s dark it’s darkdarkdarkdark._ ”

Suddenly, one of the shadows lunged forward, aiming at Papyrus. Frisk screamed – but between the loud static noise and the mumbled voices those things made, the skeleton didn’t hear him. The shadow hit them with force and evaporated in a black cloud – but not before Papyrus collapsed to the ground, much to the human’s horror.

The next few moments were so quick and so filled with a primal type of terror that Frisk wouldn’t be able to remember it accurately in the future. He mumbled something to MK, telling them to run, but before he could do anything else, another shadow quickly put itself right in front of him. For a terrifying moment, it didn’t do anything but give what sounded like a demented laugh over the static noise – and then it lurched at him just like the other one had done with Papyrus.

A cold, drowning sensation spread from where it hit him to the rest of his body, making him fall to his fours, breathless. His vision went dark and all the other noises stopped.

* * *

 

He woke up inside his sleeping bag, at Sans and Papyrus’ house. He blinked a few times, groggy. He felt exhausted, like he had no sleep at all – probably because of the nightmare he just had. He couldn’t remember it clearly, but he had a nervous sensation on the pit of his stomach.

Turning to the other side, he saw Papyrus’ bag was empty. Seating, he took a glance at the couch behind him, where he remembered MK had been sleeping. They weren’t there, either. His nervousness increased.

Maybe it wasn’t rational, but he didn’t want to be alone in there.

“Papyrus?”, he called, his voice echoing through the house. “MK?”

There was no response – the house remained completely silent. Slightly nauseated, Frisk stood up. He looked around, and apart from the two monsters sudden absence, everything seemed in its place. Still, there was something weird going on.

Something _bad_.

He decided to search for the skeleton and the reptilian monster, beginning on the ground floor. As they clearly weren’t in the living room, he headed to the kitchen.

Papyrus was there.

He gasped in surprise. They were facing their back at him, seeming to be staring at the unusually tall sink.

Frisk almost sighed with relief – but something held him back. Papyrus was strangely still, almost like a statue. A foreboding feeling installed within the human’s heart, and for a moment he almost wished he hadn’t found them at all.

“Papyrus?”, he called again, hesitantly.

The skeleton didn’t seem to have heard him and kept still in their place. Almost tip-toeing, Frisk slowly approached them, his heart beating so strongly against his chest he could actually feel the heartbeats inside his ears.

“Hey, are you lis...”, he began, touching Papyrus’ shoulder.

As soon as his hand touched the skeleton, their skull turned in an unnatural way to face him, and Frisk couldn’t do anything to stop the scream that escaped – raw and shocked – from his throat. The lower half of Papyrus’ skull was missing – and the other was slowly disintegrating into dust. Their eyes were stiff and dead – the darkness inside it provoking nothing but terror within the human.

Before he could do anything, the skeleton fell on him, and as soon as they hit the floor Papyrus’ body crumbled into white dust. Wanting to scream, but finding his voice gone, the human dragged himself away from the remains, wanting to look away, though his vision seemed to have permanently glued to that gruesome scene.

Fighting the urge to vomit, he stood on his shaky legs, attempting to quickly remove all the dust that had fallen over his body, when he noticed he had been holding something firmly in his hand all that time.

_A knife_. Not just any knife, but a very singular one – a red blade adorned by golden details. However, what immediately caught his attention was all the dust that covered it.

With tears forming in his eyes and his hands shaking badly, he looked from the knife to the crumbled remains from Papyrus in the kitchen. No... he didn’t... he couldn’t...

“What did you do?”, slowly asked a voice behind him.

Frisk turned around, and his heart leaped. By the entrance of the house, there was the last monster he had last expected to ever see again.

_Toriel_.

“I... I...”, the human was so shocked he couldn’t form words.

Toriel looked about the same as Frisk remembered – but the expression she wore wasn’t fitting of her. She didn’t look kind and motherly, but severe and judgemental. There was a glimpse of utter disgust in her eyes, which made the human feel very, very small.

“You _killer_.”, she hissed, casting a look full of hate at him.

That look made the words that had been stuck in his throat finally come out.

“No... I didn’t do it...”, he said, just a little louder than a mumble. “This i-isn't what it looks like... it... I... I found him like that!”

“Liar!”, she shouted, stepping closer. “You can’t fool me! You’re holding a knife! You killed him, just like you killed _me_ in cold blood years ago!” 

Frisk would have rather she just pulverized him with magic instead of throwing those words at him. He recoiled, speechless. 

“N-no... No!”, he denied childishly, shaking his head. “I-it was an accident, I didn’t...”

“An _accident_!?”, she repeated, giving a hollow laugh. “Are you telling me that even when you don’t want, all you can do is make others suffer!? Or maybe...”

Frisk began coughing uncontrollably, and when he recomposed, he saw Toriel had vanished in thin air. He looked around – desperately trying to find where she was. The last thing he wanted was to be caught off guard by her. 

“Maybe you _do_ want to make others suffer.”, he heard Toriel’s cold voice right next to his ear. “And you hide yourself under the ‘accident’ excuse.”

Frisk tightened the grip around the dusty knife, his breath quick and shallow.

“Yes... yes...”, she said, sounding introspective. “You say you want to save everybody so badly... yet all you do is inflict pain in others... you _disgust_ me!”

“SHUT UP!”, Frisk shouted, quickly turning around and brandishing the knife, slashing Toriel a deep cut in her throat.

For a moment, her eyes widened, her expression taken by shock. She made a gurgling sound, putting her hand over the wound and – to Frisk’s horror – it actually bled, the red liquid staining her fur. The human took some steps back, watching as Toriel raised her arms in the air, her eyes going blank. Then, she let out the most horrible scream Frisk had ever heard in his entire life. Dropping the knife, he turned around and ran towards the entrance door. He had no idea where he was going – he just wanted to get away from Toriel... or whatever was using her body.

However, as he hastily opened the door, ready to step outside, he discovered there was _no outside_. Where was supposed to be the snowy grounds of Snowdin was actually a bottomless pit – the house was literally in the middle of a dark nothing.

There was no way Frisk would willingly jump in there – but he lost his balance and fell. His body spun and spun as he kept falling, making him catch glimpses of the house distancing itself. He screamed – he was sure he was screaming at least – but there was no sound coming from his mouth. And just when he thought that would last forever, it stopped.

He had landed with his back on a bed of flowers – the same bed of flowers at the entrance of the Underground. Feeling like he had been run over by a truck, he stood up, looking around. Despite the golden flowers, there was only blackness around him – but at least it seemed he had reached solid ground, so he wouldn’t be falling anymore.

As there was nothing else to do, he ventured away from the bed of flowers and into the darkness. His footsteps echoed, and he could hear his breath way louder than he normally would. He felt cold, so he embraced himself in an attempt to conserve heat.

And then, he spotted a silhouette in the distance. He didn’t know whether to feel relieved or scared, but he could see that was definitely not Toriel, which was a good start. He walked towards it, each step closer making him feel more and more nervous.

They seemed to be the same height as him, and soon enough he began to be able to make out the clothes they were wearing. A t-shirt with blue and purple stripes, blue shorts, bare footed. When he was just a few feet away from them, he stopped, wondering if he should call or if they had noticed he was there. And then, as if reading his mind, they turned around to face him. Frisk widened his eyes and let out a shocked gasp.

It was _him_. In a surrealistic turn of events, the person staring at him was _himself_. They looked confused at each other.

“Who are you?”, Frisk heard his voice coming from the person in front of him.

The human kept with his jaw dropped for a few moments, completely dumbfounded by the sight. Then, he put his hand over his chest.

“Frisk.”, he replied, not sure why he was bothering actually answering the question.

The other one looked suspiciously at him.

“What do you mean, _you’re_ Frisk?”, they said, shaking their head. “You can’t be Frisk! _I’m_ Frisk!”

For some reason, the human began to laugh – a despaired, almost maniac laugh. What the hell was going on? Surely he had lost it – he had finally gone insane.

“What’s so funny?”, asked “Frisk” as soon as the human stopped laughing.

Frisk looked at himself... no, _not_ himself. His doppelganger? Who was the person in front of him, anyway?

“You can’t be me...”, he said, his voice tired.

Suddenly, a very wicked smile plastered across “Frisk’s” face. It was a weird sight for the human.

“You say _I_ can’t be _you_...”, they said, approaching. “But I say... _you_ can’t be _me_.”

With every step “Frisk” took, the human felt the bad sensation in his stomach increasing, so he began walking backwards. However, in a similar fashion Toriel did just before, his doppelganger vanished into thin air. This time Frisk felt them reappearing just behind him, embracing him from behind.

“But we could be one and the same, you know...”, they said, their mouth an inch from Frisk’s ear. “I can feel it... all this hope inside you... oh, all this _violence_! You’ve hurt some people, didn’t you?”

Normally, the human would have fought to free himself, but “Frisk’s” voice was so hypnotic he just kept still, feeling their warm breath against his skin.

“You just need to say one little word...”, they continued, grasping Frisk more firmly. “You just need to embrace your guilt... your violent nature... and we’ll be together... forever... and ever... and ever...”

_Guilt_...

Hearing that word made Frisk snap out of his daze. He felt a sudden burst of energy coursing through his veins.

“No.”, he said, firmly.

“What..?”, his doppelganger seemed confused.

Frisk took the opportunity they were astonished to break free from their embrace, and he immediately felt a lot better – like they had been sucking his will to live, turning him into a hollow shell.

They faced each other, and Frisk could feel his determination growing inside him again. He was remembering things – him walking in an abandoned laboratory... Papyrus being hit by a strange being... the sound of loud static around him.

“I’m tired...”, he began. “I’m tired of feeling guilty... I’m tired of feeling like the worst thing on Earth... and I’m sure as hell am tired to feel everything I do turns into a disaster. No! I know... there are people depending on me, and I can’t fault with them! And this time, I’m making things right!”

His doppelganger frowned in distaste – they sure weren’t pleased to hear that.

“I don’t know what you’re planning, but you better give up on it right now!”, continued the human – the right words suddenly coming to his mind. “Because I’m _not_ joining you! I don’t need you!”

When he said that, “Frisk” doubled up, holding their stomach seemingly in pain, and kept that way for a while. The human just watched in apprehension as they recomposed. They looked at him in a displeased, but rather neutral expression. 

“Oh, well.”, they said. “Then we have nothing else to talk about.”

And just like that, their body turned into smoke, vanishing in the air. Not long after, Frisk felt the “world” around him vanishing too, including the darkness (if that was actually possible), until he also felt his conscience slowly fading away.

* * *

 

Frisk woke up on the cold floor of the generator room, coughing and gasping desperately for air. He saw black smoke all around – and for a brief moment he feared something there was on fire, until he noticed the smoke was coming from _him_. It seemed to be seeping out of his body through his pores, and although the human felt tired, he also felt strangely light, like he had just been cured from something very poisonous.

He sat on the ground, scratching his eyes, before he got up to fetch his flashlight that had rolled about a feet away from him on the floor. There wasn’t that hellish static sound anymore, which was relieving, but what the human saw when he turned the flashlight back on was just as bad – if not worse – than that.

Both Papyrus and MK were laying on the floor, shaking and contorting heavily, wheezing and mumbling unintelligible words. Frisk’s heart sank down to his stomach. Of course – they had been hit by the same thing that had hit him just before, and if they were experiencing anything similar to what he did, the human knew they probably were having a very bad time. 

For a moment, he froze, not sure of what to do, but then a very disturbing thought crossed his mind. He had freed himself from the mental hell that thing had inflicted upon him – but what would have happened if he hadn’t? What if, in the words of the “Frisk” he saw in there, they had “became one and the same”?

What would happen if Papyrus and MK couldn’t escape?

With that in mind, he carefully approached the skeleton and crouched down next to them, hearing the words they were vocalizing.

“NO... _NO_! I... WHY... SANS..!”

Frisk shivered – the visions the shadow thing had showed him had been disturbing enough to scare him for the rest of his life. He could only imagine what Papyrus was seeing.

“SANS!” the skeleton suddenly yelled, seemingly having a convulsion, which made Frisk flinch.

As scared as the human was, he had to help them – but how?

“Papyrus.”, he called slowly and clearly.

Against all odds, the skeleton stopped convulsing and kept still. Then, they turned their head slightly to face the human – but from the look in their eye sockets, Frisk could tell they couldn’t actually _see_ him.

“SANS?”, Papyrus called, his voice with an almost child-like hope. “OH MY GOD, SANS, IT’S YOU!”

It felt like someone was squeezing Frisk’s heart with their bare hands. He knew the thing was showing Sans to Papyrus – that was how it was planning to make them join it. Frisk couldn’t let that happen.

“I’m not Sans.”, he said, once again slowly and clearly, trying not to shake his voice.

“SANS, I THOUGHT YOU HAD DIED!”, said Papyrus blissfully, giving a laugh. “I MISSED YOU SO MUCH! I’M SO ALONE HERE, AND SO SCARED, AND IT’S DARK AND COLD AND...”

Frisk felt himself getting desperate – he knew he was losing Papyrus to that thing. But what could he do when everything he said wasn’t actually understood by the delirious skeleton?

However, if there was something the human was sure of, it was that he couldn’t give up. So many times in the past had Papyrus believed in him – now it was his turn to believe in _them_.

“Papyrus, listen to me!”, he said, his voice firm and commanding. “What you’re seeing is not real! You’re seeing what that thing wants you to see.”

There was a moment of silence. And then...

“WHAT DO YOU MEAN, ‘NOT REAL’?”, Papyrus asked, confused. “DON’T SAY THINGS LIKE THAT, SANS, I... I _WANT_ IT TO BE REAL! YOU’RE HERE AND I’M SO HAPPY...”

Frisk could tell he was a second away from losing Papyrus – but he couldn’t help but smile with their response. They had heard _something_ , and that was a start. He needed to keep going.

Knowing he could save his skeleton friend filled him with determination.

“Papyrus, you can’t decide what is real and what is not!”, the human replied calmly but steadily. “You need to wake up! We need you here! No...”, he said, shaking his head. “ _I_ need you here, Papyrus!”

“NEED... ME?”

The skeleton still had that empty look – meaning they still couldn’t see Frisk, but at least they had stopped shivering.

“Yes.”, said Frisk, energetic. “Please, I know things seem really dark now... but you need to remember you are the great Papyrus – and the great Papyrus can do anything!”

Papyrus’ eye sockets widened ever so slightly. They let out a shaky breath.

“HU... MAN?”, they slowly asked.

Frisk’s heart leaped. He was doing it. It was just like he had reached his hand out inside a very dark hole, and somehow Papyrus managed to grab it. He just needed to pull them back up to safety – to reality.

“It’s me, Frisk.”, he replied, not taking his eyes off the skeleton’s eye sockets, even though they couldn’t actually see him. “Papyrus... _come back_.”

Papyrus mumbled something, and then kept very still – his breathing so short that for a dreadful moment Frisk thought he was dying. After some time, however, he began shaking and contorting violently on the ground, and the human fought the urge to hold him still. A black smoke came out from his eye sockets and the corners of his mouth – the same smoke that seeped out from Frisk’s pores about five minutes earlier.

Frisk distanced himself while that happened, but when it all stopped and the black smoke disappeared, he could see Papyrus laying on the floor – their eye sockets, while still dark, had some sort of spark it didn’t have while they were under the illusions set by the shadow thing.

He approached as the skeleton sat on the ground, scratching the back of their skull, looking around, until they finally caught sight of him.

“HUMAN, WHAT..?”

But their sentence was cut short as Frisk brought them into a hug. They returned the gesture, hugging him in such a fraternal way that the human couldn’t help but get a bit misty-eyed.

“ARE YOU ALRIGHT?”, they asked.

“I’m fine.”, Frisk replied, breaking the hug and quickly turning around to see MK twist and roll in their spot on the ground, seemingly in pain. “C’mon, we need to help MK – his time is ticking!”

“ _TICKING_? BUT WHY?”, asked Papyrus, confused.

There was no time to explain – and Frisk was praying it was still not too late to save MK. Not that he actually knew from exactly _what_ he was saving them from, but he’d have plenty of time to speculate about that later. For the moment, he needed to focus.

“MK...”, he called softly, crouching down next to them just like he did with Papyrus.

Frisk immediately regretted doing that – the reptilian monster was in far worse condition than the skeleton had been, and hearing their name being called sounded all the wrong alarms.

“No... no!”, they said, looking at Frisk – again, an empty look, meaning they weren’t actually seeing him. “I-I didn’t mean it!”

“Calm down!”, the human replied, trying to keep his voice firm and wondering what he could say next. “MK, what you’re-”

“She told me I had to do it!”, the reptilian monster interrupted, their expression contorted with fear. “She told me, she told me, she told me! I didn’t want to, it wasn’t my fault!”

Then, to Frisk’s surprise, they sat and began backing themselves away from him. Whatever they were seeing was clearly scaring them beyond the limits of sanity.

Papyrus was very confused.

“WHAT IS GOING ON?”, he asked, looking worriedly from the human to MK.

“No no no no no..!”, yelled the yellow monster.

He summoned a spear and threw it at the other two – Frisk ducked and Papyrus stepped out of the way just in time. As he got up again, nervously, the human had the realization that was going to be far more dangerous than he expected.

But that had never stopped him before, right?

Papyrus was about to say something again when Frisk made a sign for them to stop. MK was reacting at everything he was hearing – even if he wasn’t actually understanding what was being said.

The human gave careful but decisive steps towards the reptilian monster, who were with their back against a wall, trembling and mumbling, the empty look in their eyes set on Frisk.

“MK, it’s me.”, Frisk tried again, a few feet away from MK. “It’s me, Frisk!”

“L-leave me alone, please!”, they pleaded, their voice shaking with terror. Another spear was thrown at Frisk, but the human dodged it swiftly.

“MK, you need to wake up!”, he pressed on, slowly approaching the monster.

The monster shook their head weakly.

“No no no, I already said I’m sorry, they said that would be enough, I don’t understand...”, they said miserably.

Frisk gulped. If the reptilian monster was listening to _them_ , that wasn’t a good sign. He also had a pretty good idea of what – or _who_ – the thing was showing him.

He was finally next to them. Taking a deep sigh, he crouched down. This time, MK hung their head low, refusing to look at Frisk, still trembling.

“I’m sorry, please... is _that_ what you want to hear?”, they said with a weak voice. “I’m sorry...”

“I’m not the one you needed to say sorry to, MK.”, the human replied, feeling heartbroken by seeing the reptilian monster in that state. “And... you know you can’t say sorry to her anymore.”

MK didn’t reply to that. They had run out of forces. Frisk needed to act quickly, or he’d lose them.

“You need to carry on, MK.”, he continued. “You killed someone and I... I... _I_ have killed too... and that left a mark on our souls that we’ll carry forever with us.”

MK mumbled something that made no sense. Somehow, the words kept coming to Frisk, and he knew what he needed to say.

“But I already told you, right? We can do better. We can _be_ better. And if there’s something I know for sure, is that you’re _great_ , MK. You’re brave. You’re loyal. You’re kind.”

“Leave me alone...”, they replied in a whisper.

“I can’t.”, replied Frisk, his breath becoming shaky. “I can’t because we’ve been together in this for too long for me to just give up on you...”

His voice failed towards the end of the sentence, and he waited expectantly as MK slowly turned to look him in the eyes – a faint light appearing in them.

“Fri... Frisk?”, they asked.

Frisk threw his head back, fighting the tears that tried with all their might to come out. He needed to keep himself stable until MK was safe. Struggling to keep his voice firm, he looked back at the reptilian monster, saying what he needed to pull them back to reality.

“MK... _come back_.”

After that, MK dropped their head and stood still – looking like a limp doll for a moment, just like Papyrus had. The skeleton approached the other two, nervously. And then, the reptilian monster had an spasm – and then other, and other, until they were convulsing heavily. That same black smoke came out from their mouth, as well as their pores, and disappeared into the air.

Both Frisk and Papyrus waited in silence until it was all over and MK stood still again. Then, the yellow monster looked to the human next to them and flinched, looking at Frisk in a weird way – almost like they were scared of him, which left him very confused. But then, their expression softened, and they looked to the ground, sad.

“I’m s-”, they began, but they too were cut short by Frisk pulling them into a hug. MK gasped in surprise, not sure how to react.

That was new for the human, too. He had never hugged many people before in his life – it wasn’t like there were many people out there he’d like to hug. Plus, he had a very clear definition of personal space which made him try to avoid direct contact with others every time it was possible. However, MK and Papyrus became too important for him to simply not care. They were everything he had – so he could make an exception in that definition of his.

“Uh... I’d hug you back if, you know, I had any arms.”, said MK, giving an awkward, hoarse chuckle. “Just, um, pretend I’m hugging you, okay?”

Frisk laughed as he broke the hug and helped MK stand, looking fondly at the two monsters. They were alright. They were still there with him – and that realization made the heart inside his chest feel twice as big.

“WHAT WAS THAT ALL ABOUT?”, asked Papyrus, clearly shocked and confused with what just happened. “WERE THOSE... _THINGS_... AMALGAMATES?”

The human’s expression became serious once more. Like so many things in the Underground, he had the feeling he had seen those shadow beings before, but couldn’t remember much about it.

“I’m not sure.”, he replied. “Maybe... but then they sure wouldn’t be any ordinary amalgamate. I mean...”, he gave a nervous laugh. “Look at what they did, right?”

Both MK and Papyrus seemed really uncomfortable – probably remembering the nightmare the shadow thing had thrown them into. Frisk, too, was disturbed by what he had seen. He felt violated – like someone had just pried into his worst fears and memories.

“They told me...”, began MK, looking at the ground, thoughtful. “They told me to ‘join them’.”, he looked at Frisk, the corners of his mouth forming a tiny smile. “If I hadn’t heard you, man, I think I would’ve agreed... what do you think would have happened, then?”

A cold shiver passed through Frisk’s spine. He didn’t really want to think about that.

“Let’s just be glad we didn’t discover, ok?”, he tried to laugh, but it sounded fake.

After all, they still needed to discover how Frisk could keep his memories across the resets – that was the reason they gave themselves the trouble of walking around the hidden laboratory. However, before that they needed to restore the energy by fixing the generator. The human turned around and walked towards the big machine by the back of the room.

“Let’s see if we can bring the power back...”, mumbled the human, kneeling down and seeing what he could do. Papyrus and MK were right behind him.

After defeating whatever the shadow thing was, fixing a generator seemed a bit too easy – so mundane it was almost relaxing. Frisk found a very conveniently built-in drawer in the generator, which contained various repair tools for him to use. It took several minutes, but the problem with the generator was as simple as replacing some wires. With his hands dirty from the oily insides of the machine, Frisk turned the generator back on – and with a loud noise, it began working. The lights flicked back to life, making all three of them squint their eyes with the sudden clarity.

“Unbelievable!”, said MK, laughing. “How did you do this!?”

Frisk wiped his hands clean on the insides of his coat.

“You would know what to do if you paid attention to the things Barry told us in the prison.”, he replied, raising an eyebrow.

“Well, excuse me, dude, but I couldn’t pay attention to anything because we were about to _steal a freaking car_!”

Papyrus widened his eye sockets and looked from MK to Frisk in shock, his mouth half-open.

“STEAL A CAR? _WHAT_!?”

Only then Frisk noticed he had, somehow, omitted the fact he and MK tried to steal one of Leonard’s vans back in the prison to come to Mt. Ebott. He told them Eileen helped him and the reptilian monster escape from the place with the pick-up truck – he just didn’t explain _why_ she did that in the first place. Papyrus, at the time, was far too astonished with the surface picture to notice that.

“I’ll, uh, explain later.”, said Frisk, going a bit red. “C’mon, let’s find that computer terminal again. I’m sure there are some good clues in there.” 

Papyrus glanced the human a weird look he tried to simply ignore – but they let the subject drop and, along with him and MK, walked back to the corridors of the hidden lab. Now that the lights were back on, casting a sick yellow light on the greenish walls, it was much easier to see where they were supposed to go.

They crossed paths again with the DT Extraction Machine – but with the lights on it didn’t look nearly as eerie as it did in the dark. Finally, they reached the room with the huge computer terminal and, almost running, Frisk quickly approached it, holding his breath, and pressed the power button.

The monitor immediately turned on with a flashing white light – letters and symbols filling the screen. Frisk couldn’t understand any of them, and could only hope that was just the initialization process and that the interface would become more user-friendly. MK and Papyrus were next to him, watching the computer turn on in a tension-filled silence.

To the human’s relief, once the booting process was over, the interface was just as of any computer on the surface. Grabbing the mouse, he clicked on a little folder on the desktop called “Archives”.

The file was a mess, with thousands of blueprints, spreadsheets and other folders tossed in there, disorganized. Perhaps Alphys, during her time as the royal scientist, didn’t care much for organization and managed to find her way around in those files, but for Frisk, it was impossible to tell what could and could not be useful for him.

He opened some blueprints and written documents, but they only contained science-y stuff he didn’t understand anything about – and of course, neither did MK or Papyrus. They browsed the PC in silence – from time to time one of them made a remark about a file (“ _THIS LOOKS PROMISING... NEVERMIND, I DON’T GET IT ANYWAY_ ”), but the minutes passed without any progress being made. Frisk was feeling his enthusiasm deflating quickly – so far, they hadn’t found anything useful in terms of resets or how he could keep his memories across them. If they weren’t stored in the computer, where else could they be?

Just as he was about to give up, he found a little mysterious folder called “Entries”. Curious, he clicked on it, and his heart leaped when it lead to other two folders, one named “Alphys” and the other named “Sans”. MK, who became bored, was sitting on the ground, looking absentmindedly at the door, but Papyrus let out a loud gasp when they saw the folders, making the reptilian monster stand up again, startled.

“What? What is it?”, he asked, looking at Papyrus.

The skeleton pointed at the screen.

“SANS!”, he replied, apparently unable to say anything else.

Frisk felt his palms sweaty. If his deductions were right, Sans had been able to keep their memories across resets – and apparently they even managed to bring material evidence with him, like that infamous photograph. If there was one place he’d find the answers he was looking for, it was in that folder. He rapidly lead the mouse button over the folder and clicked twice on it. The computer thought for a bit and...

“ _Access denied. Please enter password._ ”

The human let a frustrated sigh out. Papyrus and MK, too, looked disappointed.

“Maybe there’s nothing really important in there, anyway...”, suggested MK, though from his tone of voice he didn’t really believe that.

“Sans wouldn’t protect his jokes with a password.”, Frisk replied in return.

“I THINK HE WOULD!”

“That’s _not_ the point.”, the human said, not in the mood for jokes. “Remember you told me he worked with the royal scientist in the ‘time travel’ project – which we now know referred to the timelines and resets? I bet there are things in there that explain how one could keep their memories, too...”

He couldn’t be certain of that, of course, but there was a high probability what he was saying would turn out to be true – which made knowing the password all the more important. Papyrus, however, gave a big smile and snapped their fingers.

“YOU’RE RIGHT, HUMAN!”, they said confidently. “BUT YOU KNOW WHO ELSE WAS WORKING WITH SANS AND THE ROYAL SCIENTIST AT THAT TIME? _ALPHYS_!”

Frisk’s eyes lit up again – of course, how could he have forgotten that? Maybe they wouldn’t need to open Sans’ folder, after all. He guided the mouse to her folder and clicked twice. It instantly opened to a series of other files without requiring password permission, and the human let himself smile a little over that.

He clicked in the most recent entry to test if it opened. It did, but Frisk, instead of closing it and resuming his search, decided to read it.

It wasn’t a happy note.

 

“ _This is it for me. i didn’t want things to end this way, but i just can’t find any reason to keep going. i just wanted to free everybody, to make everyone happy, but the way things are, i know that a broken barrier just means a second war will happen. undyne is determined for it... and with everything i helped to create these past six years, monsters will have the upper hand, at least for a while. i knew it all along, but i chose to overlook that and kept trying to find a way to break the barrier and... and now, thousands of people, humans and monsters, are gonna die, and it’s all my fault._

_The amalgamates are gone. the barrier is broken, and it’s just a matter of time before undyne announces it and they strike their first attack on the surface. i can’t take part in this. i can’t do this anymore. it may be coward, but i’ve finally reached my limit. i knew that would happen sooner or later._

_I’m sorry, everyone. i hope you stay safe._ ”

 

Frisk clenched his fists, suddenly feeling cold. Papyrus didn’t even complete reading the note and just embraced himself, looking to the ground. MK was clearly shocked, his eyes wider than usual. 

The three kept there for a moment, unsure of what to do. Frisk never imagined he’d read something like that – although on second thought, he should have expected. He knew of what had happened to Alphys before he read the note, after all.

Not saying a word, the human closed the document and resumed his search for something about timelines that Alphys could have written. He opened other files – most of which told the tragic tale of the failed experiment to use determination on monsters, some just about her being happy for being chosen as the royal scientist. It made Frisk’s heart feel heavy – did she ever expect her job would lead her to such a terrible end?

But there was something weird with the files. At a certain point, all the files he opened gave an error message, saying they had been corrupted. Frisk frowned, trying to see the reason that would happen. He opened a more recent file once again, and it did so without problems. And then, it occurred to him...

“Most of the files before Alphys became the royal scientist are corrupted.”, he announced.

MK squinted his eyes.

“Huh, that’s weird...”, he said, intrigued.

Frisk, however, knew that wasn’t good for their search.

“The timelines experiment happened when Alphys was still a pupil.”, he said, putting his head in his hands. “I don’t know what to do...”

There was an extremely uncomfortable silence between the trio – only the lonely noise of the computer’s coolers running filled the room. Frisk knew he was running out of options... what would he do if he didn’t find a way to keep his memories for certain? He could always go for it anyway – but he knew MK and Papyrus wouldn’t allow him that easily, and that would be the same as betraying their trust. No, he wanted to reset in the terms he said he would... but how?

“WE CAN ALWAYS TRY TO GUESS SANS’ PASSWORD..?”, said Papyrus, his tone of voice almost cheerful.

Frisk lifted his head from his hands once more. Of course they could try that, but was there even a point in doing so? He looked at Papyrus, however, and saw that confidence that only they were capable to inspire.

Well... it wasn’t like there was anything else left to do.

Suppressing a sigh, Frisk returned to the main folder and lead the mouse to Sans’ name. Looking at the computer screen, he felt something weird... like there was something missing there, something that should be together with Alphys and Sans’ folders, but in the moment he couldn’t really point out what it was. 

“ _Access denied. Please enter password.”_

“Um, any guesses on what it could be?”, asked MK.

No particular bright ideas were coming to Frisk’s mind.

“Maybe it was his birthday?”, he suggested.

“Nah, that’s too stupid.”

“WHICH MEANS IT’S PROBABLY SANS’ PASSWORD!”, commented Papyrus, his eyes fixed on the screen. “TRY THERE: APRIL 1ST!”

Frisk typed the date, but when he confirmed the little box flashed red and the password he typed was erased. Papyrus seemed genuinely impressed it was wrong.

“OH... MAYBE SANS WASN’T SO LAZY WITH PASSWORDS AS HE WAS WITH EVERYTHING ELSE, THEN!”

“What about _your_ birthday, Papyrus?”, suggested MK.

Papyrus put his hand on his chin, thinking.

“WELL, IT COULD BE!”, he concluded. “TYPE MARCH 20!”

Frisk typed it – and once again, the little box flashed red. Papyrus let out a groan.

But then, the human felt it... a familiar discomfort at the pit of his stomach. He closed his eyes, focusing on the sensation. _Something_... he could remember something... a bright hall with colored glasses, like a church, but not quite one. He could hear MK and Papyrus discussing other possible passwords behind him, but their voices sounded distant. Then, he slowly opened his eyes, took a deep breath, and began typing.

When he confirmed, the little box flashed green and granted him access to Sans’ folder. He felt MK and Papyrus astonished gazes on him.

“HOW DID YOU..?”

“ _What_!? What did you type?”

Frisk’s lips curled into a little smile as he glanced a look back to the two monsters.

“‘ _I am the legendary fartmaster_ ’.”, he replied. Papyrus made a movement similar to eye rolling, but smiled.

“UGH, SANS! ONLY _YOU_ COULD THINK OF SUCH A RIDICULOUS PASSWORD!”

“At least we have access to his files now.”, commented MK. “Hope we can actually find something useful here...”

Sans folder had a lot less entries – and they were much more succinct in general. The last one, for example, consisted of a simple “ _i’m out_ ” – and the ones the short skeleton wrote just before that consisted mainly of bad jokes and puns.

The human searched for the earliest entries. The very first one was from a very excited Sans, in which he wrote how happy he was to be an official scientist in the lab. Most of the following, however, were unreadable, corrupted files, like the ones on Alphys’ folder. One by one, the human opened them, his heart sinking a bit every time the message announcing the corrupted file appeared on screen. After what he thought to be the tenth corrupted file in a row, he was beginning to get desperate. He was sure those were about the timelines experiment, and if he couldn’t read about them, he wouldn’t have any clue on what to do. But then, one of the files opened.

 

“ _all the entries with his name are corrupted. i can’t save them._ ”

 

Frisk stared at the message, feeling a headache starting to throb inside his head. _His_ name?

With a sinking feeling, Frisk remembered.

How could he have forgotten _them_? He made a promise to Sans he _wouldn’t_ forget, didn’t he?

MK looked at the message with squinted eyes.

“Well, now that’s cryptic.”, he said. “Who is Sans talking about?”

“He’s... he’s...”, Frisk felt a sudden dizziness, like his own body was trying to prevent him to speak. “Dr. Gaster. The former royal scientist before Alphys, and her and Sans’ tutor.”

Papyrus and MK both stood silent for what seemed to be a very long time.

“I... I... _WHO_?”, finally asked Papyrus, blinking in confusion.

“Gaster.”, repeated Frisk.

Papyrus blinked and shook his head. MK did the same, and the two stared at the screen with indifferent expressions. Frisk looked from one to another, not understanding what was going on.

“Guys?”, he said, bothered by their reaction. “What’s up with you?”

MK looked at Frisk, intrigued.

“What do you mean, ‘what’s up with us’?”, asked the reptilian monster. “It’s _you_ who’s been staring at this creepy message all this time.”

Frisk opened his mouth to reply, but couldn’t think of anything to say. He looked at Papyrus, who in turn looked at the human with a worried expression.

“Did you...”, he began, not sure how to put what he wanted to say into words. “Did you just _forget_ what I said a second ago?”

MK frowned.

“You said something?”, he asked, and Frisk could see he was genuinely confused with the human’s questions.

Papyrus was a lot less subtle.

“DOES THAT MEAN I DOZED OFF? HOW RUDE OF ME! WHAT DID YOU SAY, HUMAN?”

Frisk looked from one monster to the other, unsure of how he should react, but decided to focus on the computer screen instead.

“Nevermind.”, he replied, reluctantly.

As he closed the file, the human tried to make sense of what had just happened. As soon as he mentioned Gaster’s name, both Papyrus and MK seemed to suffer instant amnesia. Frisk presumed that was the effect of being erased from time and space, but then, why didn’t _he_ forget too? In fact, he could even remember the conversation he had with Sans about the former royal scientist. That was really disturbing to him, but again, he needed to focus on the search for how to keep his memories.

The following files weren’t happy – the writing was sloppier (than usual) and full of grammatical errors, like Sans had been in a rush or not in his right mind when he wrote them. The notes were full of despair – Sans slowly realizing people were forgetting Dr. Gaster’s existence, and that he too was forgetting. Some notes in between contained random remarks about his workplace or silly jokes, painting a very vivid image in Frisk’s head. He could almost see a young Sans struggling to keep the memory of his tutor alive when everyone else was forgetting about them. And then, the human found a very interesting note.

 

_“alphys is thinking about applying to be the new royal scientist, just because she built that all-star tv robot of hers. she doesn’t even remember we were supposed to be finding “him”, but i can’t blame her. nearly everyone forgot about “him” now, but i think there might be a way for me to remember “him”. i just hope those blueprints didn’t disappear, too.”_

He barely read the note when he closed it and went to the next one.

 

“ _found the blueprints – they just don’t mention they were “his” blueprints, but other than that they are intact. it seems the timelines have trouble getting rid of physical evidence when adjusting themselves. yay for me.”_

 

And the next one.

 

“ _ok, this is what i’ve been looking for._

_before the timeline project, “he” made some rudimentary experimentation on human souls, and discovered they all had a common substance: determination. the resolve to change fate. i remember he was still doing experiments with it when i joined him and alphys as a scientist, and i know monsters can’t handle high amounts of determination, because it requires a lot of matter, and we are mostly made of magic. still, i wonder if i could use this determination to not forget him?_ ”

 

The following notes were very technical, with Sans describing determination properties and trying to figure out how much he could take without it being dangerous. Later on, he came up with a simple formula to establish how much of the substance a monster could stand without major problems. 

“ _Not forget him..._ ”

It was like someone had flicked a switch inside Frisk’s brain.

“That’s it...”, he slowly said, his eyes widening. “This is how I can keep my memories! Determination!”

He looked to Papyrus and MK, who had been reading the notes quietly, beaming with excitement. MK looked at him, skeptical.

“Uh, dude? I think we’ve already established you’re _very_ determined...”, he began. “But here we are, anyway. Don’t you think you wouldn’t have forgotten your memories when you reset after setting everyone free if the answer was simply... determination?”

“Yeah, but this doesn’t change the fact I managed to keep my memories through all the resets until then.”, the human stated. “I don’t know what happened for me to lose my memories – maybe the reset was too big. But then...”, he said, glancing at the formula on the screen. “Maybe a determination boost is all I need.”

With that, he opened the desk drawers and picked up some pencil and paper, proceeding to open the computer’s calculator. He was reminded of school, before all that madness began. Frisk could say he was fairly good in math, although he never bothered studying before – which granted him some hard times during tests. He actually failed a year once, not because he was incapable, but because he didn’t take school seriously enough. Making a mental note to value his studies more in the future, he began making the calculations.

It was fairly simple – he only needed to substitute the variables with his weight and height. He made the calculations three times, just to be sure he did it right, and dropped the pencil when he was done.

“Alright.”, he said, looking at the paper, and then to the screen. “According to this, 15ml of extra determination is what’s safe for me.”, he glanced a look to MK and Papyrus. “Sans recommends using only the half of the limit, but I think it’s okay to use it all since I’m human and can tolerate determination better.”

MK looked at the screen, bitting his lip. He seemed to be unsure of that plan.

“Um... what happens if a human takes _too much_ determination?”, he asked, looking hesitantly at Frisk.

Frisk frowned. He had never actually considered that.

“I don’t know, but I don’t think we melt or anything.”, he gave a nervous laugh, trying to suppress the unsettlement he was feeling. MK _did_ have a point, after all. 

Neither the reptilian monster nor the skeleton seemed to be entirely convinced of that, but Frisk knew he wasn’t stopping. He had come too far to let a little bit of extra determination scare him.

“Just one last thing.”, he said, as he opened the drawer to put the pencil back. He fiddled with the messy contents – if he could actually find one...

There it was – a flash drive. He picked it up and inserted on the computer. After some copy-and-paste procedures, he saved Sans’ folder inside the drive. He took it out and tossed it inside his backpack.

“Uh... why are you doing this?”, asked MK, curious.

Frisk wasn’t entirely sure, either. It had something to do with Gaster – the thought of him forgetting the royal scientist scared him for some reason. Actually, maybe he was doing that more out of respect for Sans than the actual preservation of Gaster’s memory – but in any case, he couldn’t tell that to MK and Papyrus. They would simply forget it, anyway.

Then, he noticed what he just did. If he was planning a reset, _why_ did he bother saving the folder on a flash drive, when it would be lost after he did it? Well, it was possible to transport physical evidence across timelines – even if the human had no idea how to do that. He froze for a moment, feeling suddenly afraid.

“HUMAN?”, hesitantly called Papyrus. “IS EVERYTHING ALRIGHT?”

The skeleton’s voice brought the human back to reality.

“Yeah... yeah.”, he replied. “Just fine. C’mon, I think I have an idea where they stored the determination samples.”

With that, Frisk decisively walked out of the room – feeling MK and Papyrus exchanging a meaningful look by his back before following him. For a moment, he feared one of them would bring up the flash drive once again – but fortunately, that didn’t happen. The trio walked in silence, their footsteps echoing through the cold corridors of the hidden laboratory, until they reached the infirmary. Frisk’s eyes were immediately set on the cabinets and lab refrigerators by the corner. The human had a feeling that was the place where Alphys conducted the experiment that created the amalgamates – so it was very likely that he would find determination stored in there. 

They walked past the beds and towards the cabinets. Where to start? Frisk opened one of them only to find various chemicals with a wide range of colors – but none of them had any labels.

“How are we supposed to know what determination looks like?”, asked MK, looking at a particular foul-looking green substance.

“DR. ALPHYS MUST HAVE BEEN REALLY SMART IF SHE COULD TELL THOSE APART WITHOUT LABELS!”, said Papyrus, holding two bottles in each hand – one colored a slightly brighter yellow than the other.

“Well, she _was_ the royal scientist...”, mumbled MK, shifting his attention to the fridge.

Getting the hint, Frisk opened it. With the cold breeze that escaped from it, his attention was immediately caught by the small vials with a bright red substance inside them. It looked like blood... but not quite.

He picked one up and held it against the light. It glowed slightly, and Frisk felt the tip of the fingers he was using to hold the vial getting strangely warm – although the glass itself was covered in frost. From the corner of his eye, he saw MK looking fixed at the vial, turning pale. The human knew exactly what they were thinking – it wasn’t the first time they had seen that substance. Neither was Frisk’s.

“This is...”, mumbled the reptilian monster, looking behind to see if Papyrus, who was busy searching the chemicals, wouldn’t hear them. “Is _this_ what leaked out of Sans’ body the day he died?”

Frisk nodded, feeling there was no room for doubt.

“It is.”, he replied, taking a better look at the red liquid. “This... is liquid determination.”

“OH, YOU FOUND..!”, said Papyrus, approaching the human and the reptilian monster cheerfully – until he saw the bright, glowing red liquid inside the bottle and froze in place, his smile disappearing almost instantaneously. No doubt, he recognized the liquid – and the memory associated with it obviously wasn’t a happy one.

Frisk and MK looked at each other – both of them aware of the implications of their recent discovery.

“Sans took this determination.”, stated MK, matter-of-factly.

“And if we consider he remembered the resets...”, added Frisk. “We are on the right track.”, he looked at the vial once more. “No turning back, now.”

The preparations for Frisk’s determination injections took no longer than five minutes – enough time for them to fill three syringes with 5ml of the liquid each. Frisk began feeling a bit anxious – humans usually would never need to take liquid determination, so what he was about to do was totally unprecedented. He wondered, once again, if there was such a thing as too much determination for humans.

“I want you to apply it in me, Papyrus.”, stated the human, and Papyrus widened his eyes.

“ _ME_!? UH...”

“Listen, I wanted to do it myself, but I really don’t know... if it hurts, or anything like that.”, he continued, speaking the last part of the sentence quicker than the rest.

Papyrus became even more uncomfortable with that. If skeletons could sweat, he sure would be in that moment.

“ _HURT_ YOU? BUT, HUMAN..!”

“I just feel it’s better this way. And you saw me doing the calculations just before – so I know this quantity won’t do me any lasting harm.”

Frisk wasn’t too sure about the last part – but then again, Sans had injected himself with determination before and had survived, and the human’s chances were far higher than the short skeleton’s. Papyrus, however, wasn’t really convinced and looked to MK, seeking for help. The reptilian monster hesitantly intervened.

“Um... are you sure about this, man?”

Frisk looked at the two, annoyed.

“What’s the problem with you two!?”, he snapped. “We’ve come down here – we went through a lot of trouble on the surface, we walked across more than half of the Underground, we were attacked by those... _things_ earlier, just to give up now!? What do you want to do, then? Go back to the surface live that pitiful life, when we know we can end all of this right _here_ and right _now_?”

Papyrus looked to the ground, speechless. MK, however, stood Frisk’s stare, although he too didn’t say anything else, either.

Exasperated, the human looked at Papyrus, trying to ignore the hint of remorse he was feeling for his outburst.

It was all for the best.

“Please, Papyrus.”

The skeleton looked at him straight in the eyes, clearly not wanting to be the one to apply the determination, but nodded. Frisk stretched his arm in front of the skeleton as they picked up the first syringe. He looked away – he didn’t like needles.

A sting in the spot right opposite the elbow informed the human Papyrus had perforated his skin with the syringe. The subsequent warmth he felt in the region indicated they were injecting the bright red liquid into him. The warm sensation then expanded to the rest of his body – a rather pleasant feeling, actually.

Papyrus then removed the needle.

“HOW ARE YOU FEELING?”

“Not bad.” the human replied. Papyrus seemed to be positively surprised. “Not bad at all.”

The skeleton then picked the second syringe, and inserted it around the same spot. As Frisk felt the determination being injected into his blood, the warm sensation increased. Unintentionally, he shivered, and Papyrus stopped injecting halfway through.

“ARE YOU OKAY?”, they asked, their voice abnormally tense. 

Frisk nodded, energetic.

“Yes, I’m fine.”, he said, perhaps too quickly for it to be normal. “Please go on.”

Papyrus seemed to be having doubts about that, but injected what remained of the second syringe into the human’s body. Frisk closed his eyes – something he immediately regretted. He saw colors and shapes flashing and twirling, leaving him dizzy when he opened them again. He was feeling too warm – almost feverish – but didn’t say anything.

Just one more syringe to go.

Almost nonchalantly, Papyrus pierced Frisk’s skin with the last syringe and began injecting the determination.

Apparently, that was too much.

The human felt way too hot, and his arm was beginning to hurt. He felt his heartbeats increase, and a sudden pain in his stomach made him double up, retreating his arm from Papyrus’ reach. The skeleton stepped back, panicked, and the reptilian monster approached.

“E-easy, man. Easy...”, he said, his voice shaky, trying desperately not to panic. “Papyrus, let me help him sit, quick!”

Frisk’s only concern, however, was the fact the other two monsters wouldn’t finish injecting the determination – and the human needed it _all_. So, in a sudden move, he grabbed the syringe, which was still stuck in his arm, and pressed it, injecting the last milliliters of determination inside his body.

“ _Dude_ , what the hell are you doing!?”, asked MK, scandalized. “Stop! Papyrus, stop him!”

It was too late for them, however. Feeling as if he was standing inside a volcano, he removed the needle and tossed it away. His put his hand on his chest, feeling an immense pain in there – was he having a heart attack? His limbs felt numb, and as he stumbled forward without direction, his vision blurred inconsistently, like an old television having problems tuning in.

He fell on his fours, breathing heavily. He had the faint notion of MK and Papyrus next to him in powerless shock. His whole body was shaking, and his skin felt hot and slimy, giving him the sensation he was melting. With his insides turning, he threw up – and what came out of him was a disgusting pulp slightly red in color.

Then, he felt extremely light – almost like he was floating away, leaving his body behind. In that blissful moment, he wondered if he had died.

It didn’t last long – the pain came back in full force. He threw up more, every part of his body aching, his heart beating insanely fast inside his chest. He closed his eyes, seeing shapes and colors take more definite forms. He could hear sounds too – Papyrus and MK’s screams of agony. Or were they his own?

And then, he was somewhere else.

He was in a beautiful garden. A furry hand held his own – reminding him of Toriel, although the monster who held his hand was much shorter and younger than Toriel.

“ _It’s me... your best friend!_ ”

The scene shifted. He was inside a big house now, running and laughing. His brother was running too. They were playing tag – happy and oblivious to the world above, which was quite expected from children.

“ _Don’t you have anything better to do?_ ”

Frisk opened his eyes – no longer feeling feverish, his heart beating at a normal, steady pace; no part of his body in pain. Actually, he felt great and revitalized, almost like he just had a good night of sleep. And he wondered if he indeed had slept, as he found himself on a bed, staring at the ceiling. Papyrus must have put him in one of the infirmary’s beds. Weird... he didn’t remember passing out.

He sat up – feeling a brief, sharp pain in his head, making him flinch. He closed his eyes for that moment, and he saw... he saw complete darkness, except for one thing: a goat monster with a green and yellow striped t-shirt, the stature of a child.

Who was that? Was he hallucinating?

No... as he opened his eyes again, the pain leaving his head – he knew what had happened. He had remembered.

He had _truly_ remembered everything.

“HUMAN..?”, he heard Papyrus call with a drowsy voice. They were sat on a bed next to him. “HUMAN!”, they repeated, standing up and walking towards him. “MK! THE HUMAN WOKE UP!”

Before Frisk knew it – MK and Papyrus were both sat next to him in the bed, saying they didn’t believe he was actually alive and that he had scared them to death. Frisk looked from one to the other in silence, waiting for them to stop. He was still distraught by what he had just remembered.

“How long have I slept?”, asked Frisk when the infirmary fell silent once more.

MK looked at him, and Frisk noticed the bags under their eyes.

“I don’t know, man... maybe ten or twelve hours?”, they said, unsure. “Papyrus and I took shifts looking after you.”

Frisk felt his heart sinking.

“ _Twelve_ hours?”, he repeated. That was way too much time.

Papyrus wrapped his arm around Frisk’s shoulder in a comforting manner, but the human could feel the tension he was feeling.

“UM... HOW ARE YOU FEELING?”

Both monsters looked at him apprehensively, like they were expecting him to enter in spontaneous combustion at any moment.

“I’m okay.”, the human replied simplistically.

“Do you feel anything... different?”, nervously asked MK.

It was a reasonable question – after almost overdosing himself with determination, it was to be expected he would feel something... maybe a little more determined, at least. But...

“I just feel really well rested.”, he stated, looking at his hands. During his feverish state, he thought he saw his skin turning red, but now it was back to its normal color. “And...”

Of course that wasn’t all – he had just remembered something really important. How the determination injections played a part in that, Frisk had no idea – but they did anyway. For a moment, he wondered if he should tell them, but that doubt didn’t last long in his mind. Of course he needed to tell them – after coming all that way with him, they did deserve to know the truth. Even if it would hurt.

“I remember now.”, he slowly said, looking to the ground. “Why we’re here. Why I reset.”

It was like the whole atmosphere of the laboratory changed. It got colder – a sad, lonely kind of cold – and the tension rocketed. Papyrus slowly retreated his hand from Frisk’s shoulder, and the human could feel his gaze on him, expectantly waiting for the explanation. MK didn’t have any visible reaction – but perhaps they weren’t too sure how to react to that in the first place.

Nobody pressed the human to start, but Frisk could tell they were just waiting. He stood up and gave a few steps, his back facing the two monsters. It was a complicated story – he was trying to find the right words to tell it.

“Asriel Dreemur.”

He could feel the confusion those words made in Papyrus and MK’s heads, even though he wasn’t facing them.

“Who?”, asked MK.

“DREEMUR...”, mumbled Papyrus. Of course that name would ring a bell. “BUT THAT WAS... THE PRINCE, RIGHT? QUEEN TORIEL AND KING ASGORE’S CHILD.”

“Hey, you’re right...”, agreed MK, sounding as if he remembered something. “But... he died a long, long time ago. What does he have to do with this?”

With a deep breath, Frisk turned around to face the other two – their expressions brimming with anticipation, eager for him to tell what was that all about.

And he told them the tragic story of Asriel Dreemur. How they died after attempting to break the barrier by fusing their soul with the first fallen child. How they were revived – sort of – by Alphys’ experiments with determination. How they abandoned their old identity and embraced a new one – Flowey, the sociopathic flower that caused Frisk so much trouble. How, in a previous timeline, they plotted to absorb the souls of all monsters from the Underground to turn back to their former self. How, against all odds, Frisk saved them and made them see the wrongs they had done.

“The last time I saw him, just a little before I took everyone else to the surface...”, explained Frisk. “He told me... without a soul, he’d turn back into a flower once more – unable to feel anything for others.”

Papyrus was embracing himself, looking pitifully to the ground. MK’s expression was a lot harder to read – Frisk couldn’t tell if they were sad, angry, a mixture of both, or something else entirely.

“ _That’s_ why I reset...”, he continued, struggling to keep his voice calm, his mouth suddenly dry. “I wanted to save him too. I thought I could save him if I did something different, but... I didn’t predict I’d lose my memories. That was my mistake. That’s why things are the way they are now. I’m sorry.”

He turned around once more, finding himself suddenly afraid of looking to the monsters’ faces. He didn’t want to look and find grudge in them. Frisk was finally aware of all the consequences of his decisions in everyone’s lives. If not for him, so many people would still be alive – Toriel, Sans, MK’s parents, Chris...

And that made him feel something weird inside – a growing sensation in his chest, a sense of duty he had never felt before. It was _his_ responsibility to fix his mistakes, and he was going to do so, even if it was the last thing he did.

More than ever, he was filled with determination.

“But I’m gonna do it right this time.”, he said, his voice firm and steady. “I’m gonna do one last reset and bring everyone to the surface. We _will_ have our happy ending.”

Frisk knew not all of them would have it – Asriel would be left behind. But now, the human understood they couldn’t be saved – they were doomed from the start, and there was nothing he could do about it. That was what he failed to see six years before.

“No.”

Frisk turned around, looking confused at the reptilian monster, who had finally spoken up. They were staring at the human with a contorted expression. MK had never looked at him in such way. Nevertheless, he looked them straight in the eyes, not daring to look away.

“What do you mean?”, asked Frisk, after some tense-filled seconds.

“I’m not gonna let you reset after this, Frisk.”

MK’s expression was fierce – they really did mean what they said. The human gave a step back, a wave of anger passing through his body. What did they mean, “they weren’t going to let him reset”?

“I didn’t force you through this.”, he stated, plainly. “You can leave anytime you want.”

The reptilian monster gave a dry laugh.

“Frisk, you really... _really_ are not getting the point here.”, replied MK. “I mean... _god_ , you reset everything because of _one_ monster!? Even worse, a monster you knew and talked for _five_ minutes!?”

The human opened his mouth, but closed it again, not sure of what to say. He’d have preferred if the monster had impaled him with one of their magical spears – it would have hurt less than this. Meanwhile, Papyrus looked at the two with bated breath.

“It was unfair.”, said the human.

“And forcing everyone else back to the Underground _is_ fair?”, questioned MK, their gaze more piercing than ever. “This only proves you’re bound to make the same mistakes – keeping your memories or not!”

“Well, I’m sorry if I care about others...”

“Care about others? C’mon, Frisk!”, the reptilian monster said in disbelief. “Just because you keep telling yourself that’s the reason you want to reset, it doesn’t make it true! No – you’re resetting to save _yourself_! You are overcome with guilt and think that resetting will somehow ease your pain. Well, guess what, this is _exactly_ why you’re feeling guilty in the first place!”

Papyrus, seeing the situation was getting out of control, finally stood up, attempting to intervene.

“HUMAN, MK... C’MON, LET’S TALK ABOUT THIS CALMLY... IT’S BEEN A LONG DA-”

“You must be crazy too, then.”, stated Frisk – not without a hint of malice in his voice. His anger boiled inside his skin. “I know this isn’t the first time you think that of me, but you put up with everything and got this far... and now you want to to do what, turn back?”

“C’MON, GUYS... YOU SHOULDN’T BE FIGHTING, YOU’RE FRIENDS...”

“Oooh, maybe you’re right!”, said MK, his voice dripping with sarcasm. “Maybe I am crazy! No, scratch that – I’m _fucking_ insane! If I weren’t, I’d have pointed out this goddamn god-complex of yours and tried to stop you before we even reached Mt. Ebott!”

“I didn’t want things to come at this, okay!?”, yelled Frisk, his voice echoing through the infirmary.

“Then stop with this non-sense already! You can’t reset thing every time you don’t like the outcome!”

The human clenched his fists, fighting the urge to jump at the yellow monster and beat them. Papyrus must have sensed this, because he put himself in between them. Instead, Frisk looked around, glancing at the infirmary exit for a moment. MK said they would try to stop him – and they seemed eager to keep their word in that matter. Waiting things to calm down would probably be a bad idea if the human really wanted to carry his plan on.

He looked at his backpack, which was tossed by the side of the bed. His handgun and flashlight were there, but to get it he’d have to pass by Papyrus and MK, and they weren’t going to let him – not in the way things were.

He was running out of options.

With a quick turn, he ran away, speeding up towards the infirmary exit.

“N-no, he’s getting away!”, yelled MK. “Stop him!”

And stop him they tried – not only by chasing him, but also with their magic. Papyrus summoned bones on the floor to make him trip and fall and MK launched spears at his ankles’ height in an attempt to knock him down.

But Frisk managed to dodge all that – which genuinely surprised him. Even if he considered himself good at dodging, he never jumped and rolled with such precision before without getting hit once – even managing to keep speeding forward after that. He wondered if those were the effects of the extra determination on his body – the determination that had always fueled him, and now helped him to reach his ultimate objective.

He knew where he was going. The other elevator in the hidden lab – the one that was directly connected to New Home.

Somehow, he managed to find it easily – even though he ran more by instinct than actual knowledge. Once he did, he had a fair advantage over the reptilian monster and the skeleton – although they approached fast. Frisk pressed the button and watched as the visor above indicated it was getting closer.

“C’mon, c’mon!”, mumbled Frisk, watching MK and Papyrus getting dangerously close.

30 feet... 15 feet...

With a “ding”, the elevator doors opened, and Frisk slipped inside, quickly pressing the button to close the doors several times – as if that would actually make the doors close faster. He caught a glimpse of Papyrus stopping in front of the elevator, almost putting his hand in the gap between the doors and...

The doors closed. Spotting a key fitted in a keyhole inside the elevator, he had a sensation he should turn it – and he did.

That must have activated a locking mechanism, because Frisk could hear them pressing the button outside, but the doors didn’t open. The human leaned his back on the elevator wall, and soon enough he heard bangs in the door.

“Frisk!” MK’s muffled voice sounded from outside. “Open this door now!”

“HUMAN... PLEASE...”, Frisk heard Papyrus’ voice, which was strangely shaken. “I... I DON’T LIKE THIS PLAN ANYMORE... PLEASE, LET’S TALK THIS THROUGH...”

Frisk let out a long, shaky sigh, trying to ignore the tightness in his throat. He never, _ever_ imagined things would come to that. He felt hurt and betrayed.

“ _Goddammit_ , Frisk!”, MK kicked the elevator’s doors with force. “This is not fair!”

But among all those negative feelings, he also felt determined. Even in that circumstances, his wish to reset was stronger than everything – it was the force that pushed him forward. He walked towards the panel, hearing MK and Papyrus banging the doors.

“I’m doing this... for you, too.”, he said, too low for them to listen.

He pressed the button labeled “New Home” – and the sudden pressure change in his ears informed him he was getting away from the hidden lab. That, and the fact he could no longer hear Papyrus and MK’s pleas on the outside.

For the first time in a long, long time, Frisk was truly alone.


	7. Game Over

He cried. 

As the elevator went up, Frisk sat on the floor and put his head between his knees, fighting the tears that were inevitably coming out – but that was a battle already lost before it even began. There was no reason for him to hold back, anyway. His loud sobs were the only thing hearable besides the humming noise the elevator made.

“ _You’re resetting to save yourself!_ ”

MK’s words filled him with anger. They had been unfair to him – he _did_ want to save others... but they weren’t completely wrong, either. Perhaps Frisk’s biggest motivation to reset was indeed to bring himself some peace of mind. So what? He deserved to be happy too, didn’t he?

That thought didn’t make him feel any better – he was still about to face the unknown all alone. If not for the determination he felt in his heart, he wouldn’t find the strength to keep going.

_BOOM_!

The elevator stopped violently, making Frisk almost hit his head hard against the wall. He looked up, startled – did the elevator break down? That couldn’t have happened. How would he get out of there?

Before he could even start panicking, the elevator shook in an unexpected way – almost as if it was plunging forward. Breathing fast, the human backed to a corner, trying to keep himself stable as his surroundings shook and vibrated.

And then, it resumed going up, just like before.

What was going on? Feeling the change of pressure in his ears, Frisk slowly stood up, looking around. The lights flickered, and for a moment he feared they would fail and he would be in the dark – the last thing he wanted in that situation.

One, two, three minutes passed... Frisk’s breath was barely making any noise as he kept still with tension. He didn’t trust that elevator anymore – he just wanted to reach New Home at once and get out of there.

Then, he felt the elevator reducing speed, until it came into a halt with a soft bump. The doors opened with a distinctive “ _ding_ ”, casting its light inside the dark corridor that appeared in front of it.

He wasn’t in New Home.

With a tightness in his throat he couldn’t actually explain, he stepped out of the elevator – not without turning the key inside once more so it wouldn’t leave. He did that partially so that he could see a little with the elevator’s light inside the corridor, and partially because he didn’t want MK and Papyrus coming after him.

He took some uncertain steps forward. The place was damp and dirty, indicating it had been abandoned for quite some time – but that wasn’t what made Frisk’s hair stand on its end. No – it was the nervous sensation on his stomach, only this time it wasn’t because he was remembering something, but because he _couldn’t_ remember anything about the place he was in.

This was new. And possibly dangerous.

The corridor was made of nothing but stone, and there was a sharp turn to the left up ahead, meaning the elevator’s light would be useless in there. There was a foreboding feeling in the air, like the walls were trying to tell him to turn back and go away.

Unfortunately for him, that wasn’t an option.

Armed with nothing but what still remained of his courage (and fairly high amounts of determination), he set off. 

As soon as he took the sharp turn, his surroundings only got more and more dark – until he couldn’t see anything. With his heart thumping hard against his chest, he walked slowly, making sure the ground in front of him was actually solid before proceeding.

It took a while until his vision got used to the darkness – which wasn’t much use, but at least made him see the outlines of the walls. That would make things a little less disorientating.

The sounds of his lonely footsteps in the darkness were a constant reminder for Frisk – he was _alone_ , and he was about to reach his reset _alone_. There wasn’t anything wrong with it – it had been his mission, his wish. The responsibility to reset was his, and not anybody else’s.

After what seemed to be ten minutes of walking, the corridor began to open, and Frisk found himself unable to see the walls anymore – but he was seeing something else. He walked to what seemed to be vertical lines raising from the ground, and hesitantly passed his hands through them.

His heart leaped – those were metal bars... just like the ones used on prison cells. He walked alongside the bars, trying to make out anything that could be on the other side, but it was too dark.

Nevertheless, Frisk was certain those were prison cells – he had enough experience to recognize it when he saw one, after all. Was he in a prison of sorts, perhaps?

Actually, maybe prison wasn’t the right word for it – _dungeon_ was a more fit option.

A sudden cold sensation passed through his spine. Why did the elevator take him there instead of New Home?

He moved forward – attentive in case there were any sounds around him besides his footsteps and his shaky breath. Somehow, the eerie silence from the place made Frisk feel even worse. This prison – no, this _dungeon_... nothing good could have happened here. Those cells, those walls, and even the ground were witnesses of horrible things – the human was sure of it.

_Click_.

He stopped, his heart beating violently hard against his chest. The clicking noise, like of something being unlocked, sounded just above his head. Frisk looked up, and only then he noticed how low the ceiling was.

A weird thought formed in his mind. Uncertainly, he raised his hands until his palms touched the ceiling, his elbows slightly flexed. He pushed it and...

It slid open.

The light that entered the dungeon was blinding – specially after spending so much time in pure darkness. He averted his eyes, blinking until they got used to the sudden clarity. Then, he looked up once again. He was bathed in a mixture of golden and orange lights, which made him feel warm somehow, almost like he was outside, by the sunlight.

Those lights were all he needed for him to be sure of where he was.

He jumped a few times until he grabbed a ledge and pulled himself upward, and out from that dungeon. For a moment, he lied face down on the ground, feeling the cold floor against his face and hands.

He was in the last corridor. It had stayed the same over the past six years – the big and beautiful colored-glasses still casting that characteristic orange and golden lights over the place. It was unique and different from everything else in the Underground – which was why it was imprinted so vividly in Frisk’s mind.

As he stood up, looking around, he found himself almost expecting to see a shadow from a certain someone standing against one of the pillars, like they had so many times in so many different timelines. Each time, they had something different to say. That they believed in him. That the fate of humans and monsters lied upon him.

But in the end, nothing they had to say really mattered – as long as Frisk had been honest with himself.

He glanced a look back to the passage he just came through – a trapdoor of sorts. Never had he imagined that beneath that corridor there was a dungeon. Or maybe it really _didn’t_ by the time of his first journey through the Underground, and was just another unfortunate change to the place after he left.

He slid the stone back to cover the hole in the ground. It fit perfectly – and if he hadn’t come through it, he’d have been none the wiser.

With a last look to the colored glasses, he set off to the throne room – his footsteps echoing alone through the corridor. He began feeling something different inside his chest – a growing excitement that made him walk faster. He was getting closer to the reset. Not even when he left the colorful corridor and entered the gray setting that was New Home he felt his excitement fade away.

He was scared too, of course. The reset... Frisk was not unfamiliar with it, but it was still so mysterious. How did it work? What if something went wrong? What if – and that was what the human feared the most – he had the same fate of Dr. Gaster, who was erased from time and space and now was maybe dead, maybe alive, but surely forgotten by almost everyone?

But he was too determined to give up. Perhaps he was too determined for his own good, but he didn’t care.

He found himself just outside the throne room, looking absentmindedly at the arched entranceway that lead to it. He could remember his ten-year-old self standing right there six years before, terrified at the prospect of having to fight Asgore, then king of the Underground. In a sense, the situation wasn’t that different – he was terrified now too, although for another reason entirely.

The throne room itself was another place that seemed to have frozen in time – the garden of flowers was somehow kept tidy, and the big throne in the middle of the chamber stood there as mighty as ever. A few rays of sun seeped in from the outside through some cracks in the mountain, giving the place a mystical feeling, like a scene taken straight out from a fairytale.

Frisk tried to picture Undyne in the throne room. He had some trouble doing that – everything in there, from the flowers to the throne itself, screamed Asgore’s name. In fact, the human still remembered vividly meeting the former ruler of the Underground in there, watering his flowers and making small talk until he noticed Frisk was actually a human.

He crossed the room, for some reason taking care not to step on the flowers. It was silly – everything was going to be reset, right? So it wasn’t like that really mattered. Still, it felt wrong for him to simply not to care. Maybe that timeline was about to end, but that didn’t make it any less real.

Perhaps, in the end, the fact he cared was a good thing.

He reached the gray corridor that linked the throne room and to the very end of the Underground – where the barrier used to be. Frisk felt all his emotions rocketing inside him – his fears, his hopes and dreams, his determination.

When he finally found himself in front of the entranceway to the final chamber of the Underground, he truly realized it.

_He made it_. After everything he went through, after all the problems and struggles, he was there. The reset was just a few feet away.

He could see the exit, bathed in a blinding white light that was too bright to be just from the sun. His heart began beating faster, and he had the surreal sensation of feeling his blood running through his veins, his forehead dripping with sweat. That was it. The place where the barrier once stood – now broken – but still holding that mysterious power of the reset. A power which had been granted to him, for some reason, and it was time to finally make things right.

The human shivered, and looked back at the gray corridor behind him, expecting maybe to see Papyrus and MK reaching him, pleading him to stop. He looked down, saddened. Without the two monsters by his side, there was nothing else for him in that timeline to return for. The ones he trusted the most didn’t trust in him anymore. There was no place for him to return. No place to call home; no one to rely upon anymore.

He could only move forward – or, in that case, backward.

Looking once again to the blinding light beyond the room in front of him, he couldn’t help but feel a new kind of nervousness installing in his heart.

“ _You’re bound to make the same mistakes!”_ , MK’s voice tauntingly echoed through Frisk’s head.

He clenched his fists. He _wouldn’t_ make the same mistakes. He would get it right this time. He was determined to do so.

Feeling something he couldn’t quite describe, he set his eyes on the horizon and began walking towards the light – entering the final room. He hadn’t given even ten steps when he began walking faster, and then running. The white light was beginning to surround him – the outlines of the room were disappearing, and he felt a pleasant warmth against his skin.

That was his call. His destiny.

“So you’ve came.”

Frisk stopped suddenly – all the determination melting away from his body, giving place to a cold fear. That voice... it couldn’t be...

He slowly turned around, and behind him, standing a few feet away... was Undyne.

Oddly enough, the white light retreated – not completely, but considerably, and Frisk could see the dark outlines of the chamber once more. He still had the vague sensation of the warmth the light gave behind his back, but it surely had diminished.

The empress of monsters looked like anything but that. She wore very casual clothing – which closely resembled the outfit she wore in the picture taken from the timeline Frisk saved everyone. Her hair was about shoulder length – longer since the last time they met, but not long enough to make the ponytail the human was sort of used to seeing in her.

He opened his mouth, but was so shocked he couldn’t say anything. He had thought she was on the other side of the region – far away from Mt. Ebott. What was she doing in the Underground?

The empress stood there with her arms crossed, a strange expression in her face. It wasn’t anger, nor hate, not even fierceness. It was... something else. It reminded Frisk of someone, but he couldn’t exactly recall who.

“It’s over.”, she said, looking to the ground.

Frisk was still too astonished to reply. It took some moments for him to realize she hadn’t attacked him, nor menaced him, which struck him as odd. Didn’t Undyne want him dead? Didn’t the hate she felt for him – and, by extension, for all humankind – motivate that whole war? What was she waiting for? He was there in front of her – an unarmed, skinny teenager that, save for a few self-defense moves, didn’t know any real hand-to-hand combat.

“Wha... what’s over?”, he babbled, almost idiotically.

Undyne quickly looked back straight into his eyes, that old fierceness back in her expression for a brief moment.

“What do you think, punk!?”, she exclaimed. “The war.”, she added, in a rather bitter tone.

The human’s head spun with the answer. Had he heard that right?

“The... war?”, he repeated, not daring to believe in her so readily. “But... why?”

He thought about the monster attack on the prison, about a month prior. Things were supposed to still be even to both sides, right? So technically, monsters weren’t losing.

It was only then he realized who Undyne’s expression reminded him of – _Asgore_. The face of someone that carried a terrible burden, of someone divided between doing their duty or doing what they believed in. The resemblance was uncanny.

“You... didn’t lose. Yet.”, Frisk said, feeling his hands cold. “How can the war be over?”

The empress gave a dry, emotionless snort.

“I _wish_ we had lost, punk.”, she replied.

Frisk gulped. There was something in her tone of voice that indicated danger, but the human stood his ground.

“No... I realized...”, she said, with a restrained anger. “We, monsters, became something different. We became... like... _you_!”

Her voice trembled ever so slightly, and Frisk had to hold himself to not give a step back. Showing weakness in front of Undyne wasn’t a wise decision.

“We were supposed to battle _for the surface_!”, she said, her voice getting louder with each word. “We were supposed to defeat _you_! Humans! We weren’t... we weren’t supposed to hurt each other... we weren’t supposed to _kill for fun_! We weren’t... we...”

There were tears streaming down Undyne’s face, and she wiped them with a harsh move. Frisk felt his heart sinking – he knew exactly what she meant. His thoughts immediately wandered to the incident that happened at the cabin in the woods, months earlier, with Bonnie, Berna and Boone. It was there he realized for the first time that maybe monsters were capable of evil... of things worse than just killing.

“When I realized that...”, continued Undyne, snapping Frisk out of his thoughts. “I... I turned a blind eye to it. I thought it was a little price to pay for the surface. I tried to hold on – until I couldn’t. Too many of us were dying – by the hands of humans... and by our own hands, too. About two months ago, I called my troupes to retreat back to the Underground.”

Frisk’s stomach burned with a sick sensation. Over the past months, he learned the war could bring out the best – or the worst – in people. And he had lived plenty of situations in which monsters were acting on their worst intentions. If Undyne herself was realizing that, things had surely gotten too far – to the point she simply couldn’t ignore it anymore.

“Of course...”, Undyne began, her lips curling into a bitter smile. “While the ones who remained loyal to me... who remained _good_... got back here like I commanded, a lot of monsters ignored me, and continued to cause chaos on the surface. They continued their killing spree... completely forgetting _why_ we began this war on the first place. That’s why... a few days ago, I deactivated the shields.”

The human just stared in shock as Undyne pointed to a pile a few feet away from her – her old armor, source of her power, trashed and destroyed. Frisk had been so taken aback by the situation he hadn’t noticed it before.

He felt his heart almost jumping out of his mouth. The shields were deactivated... which meant that it was only a matter of time before human technology on the region began working again and reinforcements arrived. Which would inevitably lead to...

“This means you have won the war.” Undyne sharply added. “Aren’t you happy?”

Frisk... he didn’t know how he felt. He should have been happy with the news – the war was over, wasn’t it? And even if he was going to reset everything, a very complicated question sprouted in the back of his mind.

What would happen next in this timeline?

And as he looked Undyne in the eyes again, he wondered if she knew about all that. About the resets – about the moment that infamous photograph was taken.

“And after all that...”, she suddenly said. “You still have the courage to show up here! The Underground... is monsters’ last safe haven! And even then, I don’t know for how much longer. So...”, she gritted her teeth, shaking with anger. “Why did you come back here, punk!?”

The way the empress looked at him, Frisk was sure there was no answer that would change her mind... that would make her see he was never ill-willed against monsters. Normally, with all the aggressiveness she spoke at him, the human would have felt defiant – but now... now he was only sad.

“Because of my past, I guess.”, Frisk replied simplistically. That was extraordinarily true, even if Undyne wouldn’t get it.

She looked down in a way the human couldn’t see her face, and he had a strange déjà-vu sensation.

“You know we’ll have to fight, right?”, she said, apparently struggling to keep her voice from shaking.

Somehow, Frisk knew this was coming – but what was more strange, perhaps, was the fact he didn’t feel any fear from it. Only sorrow.

“Why?”, he asked, his tone of voice hopeless.

“Because it’s meant to be.”, she replied. “You and I... are destined to fight. I saw it in my dreams.”

A weird shiver passed through Frisk’s back, like a million tiny little ants were walking over there.

“We don’t have to.”, he mumbled, looking down.

“You don’t get a say in this.”, she said, still looking at the ground. “Everything else went wrong... but at least I can get my revenge. What happens next... won’t matter anymore.”

Frisk looked up just in time to see Undyne raising her hand in the air – grabbing a glowing blue spear she had conjured. With a swift movement, she threw it at him – but Frisk quickly dodged by rolling to the side.

Undyne had years of military training on her back – Frisk only got his determination to help him out. It was time to know which would lead to victory.

The empress didn’t lose any time and attempted to shoot the human with her green magic. As that would probably leave Frisk in a tough spot, he did his best to run away from it. Like dodging Papyrus and MK’s attacks before, he pulled that out fairly easily (but not unsurprisingly). After a while, Undyne stopped, panting. Shooting her magic out like that obviously tired her– and it was Frisk’s turn to counterattack.

Or “counteract”.

“Undyne, can’t you see this is pointless?”, he asked.

She gave a hollow laugh, holding her hand clenched in a fist with the other.

“I don’t care if it’s pointless, as long as by the end of this you’re DEAD!”

With a loud battle cry, she ran at him, summoning another spear on her right hand on the way. When she was near enough, she slashed her spear against the human several times, but he dodged them all – ducking, rolling, jumping.

“Why are you still on your feet!?”, she exclaimed, charging at him.

Frisk wasn’t even tired. While he could sense Undyne was only getting more and more worn out, the human felt just as prepared as he did when she first attacked.

He dodged her attack by spinning to the side – and, more automatically than actually planned, he aimed a kick at the back of her knee. Undyne lost balance and kneeled to the floor, grasping her spear so tightly Frisk could see the veins popping out of her arm.

Chris would have been proud.

“You’re not so wimpy anymore, huh?”, she mumbled, slowly standing up and turning around to face the human once more.

“I’ve learned a thing or two.”

She charged again – Frisk dodged again. She then summoned several spears that chased him down – he ran as fast as he could and the spears shattered behind him as they hit the ground.

They were separated by several feet – Undyne was panting again, holding her hand against her chest.

“I’m not your enemy, Undyne!”, Frisk said loudly.

“Shut up!”, she hissed, looking extremely angry. “You destroyed everything! This is all _your_ fault!”

She summoned another spear in front of him – but he didn’t even have to run to dodge it and simply leaned to the side as it passed. He looked briefly to the end of the room – where the white light still shone. He could make a run for it and Undyne would be none the wiser... but, for some reason, he wanted to give that timeline a proper ending. He wanted to make the empress listen.

And then it hit him.

He found himself glued to the ground – he could only turn around the same spot.

_Green magic_.

“Ha!”, exclaimed Undyne, pleased, summoning a wave of spears and throwing them at him.

_No_!

Feeling as if he was breaking a glass dome placed around him, Frisk jumped to the front – nearly missing the spears that were shot at him.

“ _What_!?”

He stood up quickly to find Undyne with a very confused expression a few feet away from him. Of course – he had broken free of her green magic all by himself, using nothing but his will, his determination.

However, the empress wasn’t used to her attacks all failing her. Seeing the human breaking from her special attack like that made her go completely berseck. She ran at him, this time armless, her expression showing nothing but pure rage.

“DIE ALREADY!”, she screamed.

She attempted to punch and kick him using various fighting techniques, but Frisk just jumped and dodged them. Actually, he had the impression she actually hit him sometime, but he stood his ground. It was like his body had turned into iron.

“WHY! WON’T! YOU! DIE!?”, with each word, she threw a punch. She was completely out of control.

Meanwhile, Frisk’s mind raced. He needed an opening...

And then, Undyne pulled her arm back, ready to punch him straight on the face – but before she could complete the movement, Frisk advanced and pushed her back with all the strength he had. The empress stumbled backwards as she missed the punch, and the force from the move made her lose balance and fall to the ground, standing on all fours.

Some dreadful seconds passed in which Undyne just stayed there, looking down, and the human thought she was about to lunge at him – until he noticed her shoulders were shaking. It was like a cascade of cold water had descended into his stomach.

She was crying.

She was there, powerless, sobbing loudly. Frisk felt sorry for her – after everything turned out wrong in that war, defeating the human was the only thing left for her. And realizing she couldn’t do that finally broke her apart.

Now, it was time to pick up the pieces.

“I-I don’t g-get it...”, she stuttered between the sobs, as Frisk approached. “H-how are you still alive? _Why_ are you still alive?”

The human took a deep breath. He felt his muscles becoming sore and achy from all the running and dodging – his tiredness was finally beginning to catch up.

“Over the past months, I wondered that myself.”, he replied. “Until I learned... humans are very, _very_ determined.”

He offered Undyne his hand and she looked up, the tears rolling down her face strangely shiny.

“Why are you doing this?”, she asked, shaking her head. “Why are you still trying to talk to me?”

“Because I’m determined to end this on a positive note.”

Undyne squinted her eyes. She didn’t seem angry anymore – in fact, she almost looked at Frisk with a restrained fascination.

“ _End_ this..?”

He glanced a quick look to the exit of the Underground – the white light seemed to be regaining its strength, its blinding brightness slowly beginning to fill the room once more.

“Yes. Before I start things over.”, he said. “Maybe then, we can get a better ending.”

The empress looked at the hand the human offered, her expression frowned.

“You say a lot of pretty things that don’t make any sense.”, she mumbled. “But, y’know what?”

She snatched Frisk’s hand (which almost made him fall to the ground), and he pulled her up. They stood in front of each other – Undyne considerably taller than him.

“So what are you gonna do, now?”, she asked.

Frisk cast another look to the white light, which was at almost the same force it was when he first entered the room.

“To the exit.”, he said, looking back at the empress. “Then you won’t hear from me again.”

At least, not in that timeline. Undyne stared at him with a weird expression – was it pity? Or guilt? Did she sense, deep in her heart, there was a time they had been friends?

And then, her expression changed for a brief second – her eyes widened with shock and horror. Frisk blinked, confused.

“NO!”, she screamed.

The human gave a step back, afraid, and that was when he felt a sharp pain at his lower back.

Every muscle in his body froze, and his head suddenly became very light. Then, not a second later, he felt an exploding, hot pain in his abdomen and, with his head trembling, he looked down.

_Whoa_. That was _a lot_ of blood.

“WHY DID YOU DO THAT?”, he heard Undyne scream.

The tip of a gray spear was protruding from his abdomen, stained with his blood, and the second after the empress screamed, it dissolved, turning into grayish powder. Frisk managed to put his hand on the wound, and it quickly became drenched in his own blood.

Losing sensibility from his legs, he fell on the floor, trembling. Dark spots appeared in his vision, and his hearing felt like an old radio tuning in and out. He could hear Undyne yelling, and someone responding. It almost sounded like... the barking of a dog?

With the little sensitivity he still had, he could feel his clothes getting stuck to his skin, drenched in his blood, coloring them crimson. He opened his mouth to speak, but no sound came out – he only felt a disgusting, metallic taste. He spit what he could of the mixture of saliva and blood – the rest came out in a thin line of drool. He was feeling himself very light, and he wanted to sleep so, so badly. The dark spots were taking most of his vision – he couldn’t see anything from the room anymore, just the white light that filled it. 

Was he dying? He could feel his breathing shallow and inefficient; his chest began to hurt. He wanted to close his eyes and wait there, wait until it all passed, until he couldn’t feel his blood against his clothes and skin.

But he couldn’t die. Not yet.

With difficulty, he turned his head until he could see the exit of the Underground – which was by itself an achievement, since his vision was really blurred, and not getting any better.

He stretched his bloodied arm in front of him, his hand open, towards the light. His lips trembled, as if trying to form a sentence, calling for the light, trying to feel it.

“Help... me.”, he moved his mouth in silence, as his voice was completely gone.

And that time... something happened.

The white light seemed to get brighter somehow – and he began feeling its warmth against his skin. The dark spots in his vision diminished a little; the pain in his chest alleviated for a while.

He couldn’t miss that chance.

He let his hand fall to the ground, grasping it, and pulled himself forward. He felt a weird, cold pain in his abdomen as he did so, but he pressed on. He felt his legs against something wet and squishy, but didn’t dare to look at what it was.

He needed to keep going.

He stretched his arm, grasped the ground, and pulled himself a little more forward. The white light surrounded him – he needed to squint his eyes so it wouldn’t be unbearable to look at.

He repeated that process over and over. He made very slow progress, but he could feel he was approaching the exit.

Then, he heard exclamations behind him, and felt someone approaching. They touched his arm, and then his torso, attempting to grab him, but he frantically shook his arms at them to make them go away. He couldn’t do much, but he insisted until they got away.

Nobody would prevent him from reaching his goal. _Nobody_.

He returned to grasping the ground and pulling himself forward again, but he was running out of energy. The pain in his chest was returning, and his vision was becoming dark again. He stretched his trembling arm in front of him, and it felt uselessly on the ground. No matter how much he wanted, he didn’t find the strength to raise it again.

The only good sensation he still had was the warm light against his face. It was so comforting he wanted to close his eyes, but he didn’t dare do it – even if his vision was now so dark it would barely make any difference, 

Please... he had to... he _needed_ to...

For a moment, the light seemed to get even warmer and brighter. He began hearing voices... voices from people that no longer belonged to that world.

Asriel. Toriel. Mrs. Magda. Sans. Chris.

His mother.

They were... trying to say something. Frisk couldn’t make out what they were saying, but he knew it was them. He felt a soothing sensation pass through his whole body, making him instantly relax. It was almost like magic.

He closed his eyes.


	8. Still You

The first thing Frisk felt was the warm sensation on his skin – like when they stayed still by the sunlight long enough. Then, the smell – the wild, fresh vegetation that grew around Mt. Ebott in the summer. He moved his fingers and balanced his legs. He was sitting on some kind of surface, but his feet weren’t touching any kind of ground – was he by a ledge, or a cliff, perhaps?

When a gentle breeze blew at him, intensifying that comforting smell of wood for a second, he opened his eyes.

He was, indeed, sitting on a cliff, and the view was absolutely stunning. The forest beneath him was beautiful, wild, mysterious. The town nearby it was brimming with busy people, each minding their own business, going to their homes, or maybe meeting their friends and family. A little ahead, a highway displayed a considerable amount of cars coming and going, making the traffic mildly busy.

He was at the top of Mt. Ebott, there was no mistaking it. He had already been there, but never alone. Still, he didn’t feel sad or lonely, as he thought he would have – his heart was filled with a welcoming serenity. 

Everything he saw was beautiful in their own way, but the most stunning thing was the sunset right in front of him. Frisk watched the sun – colored in a non-aggressive type of orange – slowly disappearing in the horizon. He didn’t need to squint his eyes to look at it, so he just kept there, observing it.

There was something comforting in watching the sunset nearby a town full of life – actually, he had forgotten what a normal town, with people walking around, felt like, or even looked like. He knew, immediately, that the war wasn’t happening in there. Perhaps it never did.

And yet...

As he looked below, at himself, he realized he still looked like his 17-year-old self – he was even dressing the same clothes. If he had reset back to six years before, wouldn’t he be looking like a ten-year-old child?

Not only that, he realized his mortal wound on the abdomen was absent from his body. He put his hand beneath his shirt, feeling it, but there were no scars or markings indicating he was ever wounded in there. It was like it never happened.

And then, the realization finally hit him.

He was _dead_.

He looked at his hands for a while, closing and opening them slowly, feeling his fingers pressing against his palms. He looked at the sun once again, paying attention to the way the light felt so warm against his skin. He took a deep breath, the smells of the forest filling his nose.

So that was how it felt to be dead? It wasn’t so bad...

Just as that thought crossed his head, he heard a sound – approaching footsteps. He looked up to his right – a woman was standing in there. She looked down at him, smiling kindly. She had wavy brown hair, her skin slightly tanned. But what caught his attention were her eyes – they were just like his.

His heart gave a powerful leap inside his chest, the air escaped his lungs for a while. She... was she..?

“ _Mom_?”, he asked, his voice hoarse, like he hadn’t used it in a long time.

Her smile got wider, but she didn’t reply directly – it wasn’t like she needed to. Instead, she looked down at her feet, and then at Frisk, as if asking for permission to sit down next to him. The human nodded nervously, and she sat.

For a moment, they both just kept looking at the setting sun, not exchanging a word. Frisk, who had been so serene up until that point, began growing restless. His mother was right _there_ , next to him, after he had grown up without her. He wanted to say something, but words were escaping him, and he couldn’t help but feel a little frustrated at that.

And then, the sound of more approaching footsteps came from behind them – those ones, however, sounded quite heavier than his mother’s. Frisk looked up to his left this time, and he didn’t have any trouble recognizing who had appeared.

“Toriel.”, he said, quite affirmative.

And it was indeed Toriel who was standing there. She gave that kind smile of hers – that same smile that had made him feel warm, but guilty, over the past six years. She didn’t ask for permission to sit by Frisk’s other side and, not wasting any time, she raised her paw and began to gently stroke his hair.

He looked from Toriel to his mother, suddenly noticing various things he hadn’t while he was there. He took another deep breath, deciding if he should tell them. After some long seconds passed, he decided the two deserved to know it – and, at the very least, he needed to get it out of his chest, even if they wouldn’t say anything in return.

“The reset failed.”

He waited for something to happen – maybe for his mother to look disappointingly at him, or Toriel to recoil, but everything stayed about the same. The goat monster still stroke his hair. His mother still observed the sunset with absentminded tranquility.

“I’m sorry.”, he added.

Now that got more of a reaction from the other two. His mother put a hand on his shoulder and looked at him straight in the eyes – her smile turning from a serene to a sad one. She shook her head, and Frisk was a little shocked to notice the tears forming in her eyes. She blinked, and a lonely tear dropped down her face. Even if no words were spoken, the human understood it.

“ _Don’t be sorry._ ”

Toriel, in turn, put her hand over Frisk’s other shoulder, and he looked at her. She nodded, as if agreeing with the silent message his mother had given. There were tears in her eyes too, and the human felt himself suddenly wanting to cry as well.

What was strange, though, was that he didn’t feel sad, or angry. He should have been, right? He had fought for it for _so_ long – made the possible _and_ the impossible – just to reset, to make things right. And then, he was denied that. He had failed.

However, he felt strangely calm over that. Maybe it was him noticing that perhaps... and _only_ perhaps... that reset was failed from the start. It wasn’t meant to be.

No, what really unsettled him was the following realization – the one about that wrong assumption he had made earlier; the one which would bring far more consequences.

“I’m not... dead, right?”

He looked at his mother, and her lips curled into a shy, tiny smile. As with everything else up until that point, nothing needed to be said.

The real question was: what would he do?

“I need go back, don’t I?”, he said, almost casually, as if confirming what he should buy in the next trip to the supermarket.

He chose to look at Toriel this time. She avoided his look, sighed, and then gave a meaningful look at him.

“ _That’s up to you, child._ ”

Frisk nodded.

It was so peaceful in there – he had never felt that calm, safe and comfortable during any point at his life (except, maybe, when he was very little and his mother was still alive). If he chose to stay, he’d be with his mother and Toriel forever. Maybe then they would climb the mountain down together and reach town, where they’d find Sans, in case he was wandering (or lazing) around. The human had gone through so much, all he wanted was a bit of peace – and staying would provide him with just that. It was the easy solution.

However, Frisk also knew he had given up on easy solutions a long, long time ago.

“I can’t stay.”, he said, choosing not to look at any of the ladies. “Not yet. Things are going to happen and... and I have a feeling I need to be there.”

His thoughts immediately went to MK and Papyrus. What would be their reaction when they found his body, drenched in a pool of his own blood? He felt a sudden tightness in his chest.

MK, who had been Frisk’s most loyal companion ever since they reunited during the war... Papyrus, who, despite everything, came back to them, to be side by side with his friends... the more the human thought about it, the more he realized that the two monsters had become a _family_ to him. The horrors they faced together created a bond between them that couldn’t be easily shattered.

That was why he couldn’t stay.

And he was smiling. Tears were streaming down his face, but he was smiling – because he noticed that he wouldn’t be alone ever, ever again. No matter the circumstances.

He stood up, and his mother and Toriel stood up as well. He looked from one to the other, and had the feeling he wouldn’t need to explain his decision to neither of them. From the way they smiled, it was clear they understood why he needed to go. It was the right thing to do.

Still...

“There’s... so much I want to say.”, he said, looking more at Toriel than to his mother at that.

But whatever he had to say was cut short when the two pulled him into a hug. Frisk felt the human heat that emanated from his mother, and the fluffy fur from Toriel, all mixed together, and it was suddenly too much for him. He hugged them back, not doing anything to hold back the loud sob that escaped his throat.

He missed them. And from the way they cried, they missed him too.

However, the tears they shed weren’t ones of despair and suffering. They were sad, yes, but they were also happy. In Frisk’s mind, that wasn’t farewell. Not really.

He closed his eyes again.

* * *

 

_Beep... beep... beep... beep..._

Frisk had been really quiet, eyes closed, listening to the steady ‘beeps’ that came from somewhere next to him, when he noticed he was actually awake. He was _conscious_. 

Funny – he had been conscious for some time now... he remembered hearing a humming noise around him and feeling the soft surface he was laying on, but at the time his mind was floaty and he couldn’t really think about anything, like he was in a dream. But no – this was real.

With awareness came other things. He felt something pressed against his mouth and nose, forcing air into him, making his chest heave up and down almost in an uncomfortable manner. A cold sensation spread from his stomach to the upper part of his body – although everything below his waist felt strangely numb.

_Beep... beep... beep... beep..._

There was another sound – similar to the one they make when breathing through a gas mask. Then, he realized it was his _own_ breathing. That, allied with the pressure he felt on his mouth and nose, made him conclude he was breathing with the help of a device of sorts.

Was he in... a _hospital_?

He tried to remember why he would be in a hospital, but the effort just made his mind enter that same daze he was in as he heard the ‘beeps’ earlier. He felt sleepy, but he had become far too aware of what was going on around him to actually fall asleep. Or fall asleep _again_. Had he ever slept in there? He couldn’t tell.

_Beep... beep... beep... beep..._

The war. Fighting Undyne. Someone stabbing him. Blood. He remembered – he had been at death’s door. But then... was he really alive? But how?

And there was also that strange vision he had – with him, his mother and Toriel at the top of Mt. Ebott.

He tried to move a finger – he raised his index one, moving it up and down. He moved the other fingers as well, and the soreness he felt wasn’t like anything he had experienced before. It was like his hand had been inside a bowl of ice for a long time, and he was finally taking it out.

Suddenly, there was a loud noise – approaching footsteps next to him, until they came into a halt. Someone was there with him, and whoever they were, they were standing right next where he was laying down.

Wondering if that would actually work, he opened his eyes.

_Beep... beep... beep... beep..._

He couldn’t see clearly right away – all he saw were some white blurs and outlines, and something yellow next to him. He tried to move his neck to see the yellow thing more clearly, but his neck seemed frozen.

He blinked.

“Oh my god, you’re awake!”, said MK’s voice, shaky and spooked. “You’re awake!”

Even if Frisk tried to reply, he wouldn’t have been able to, as his mouth was covered by what was probably a breathing mask. Instead, he just heard MK stumbling away, knocking something on the ground, and fumbling with another thing on the other end of the room (spatting some very ugly curses on the way).

“Doctor, you need to come right here, he’s awake!”, he stopped for a moment, listening to the other side. “ _What_!? You..! _Of course_ this isn’t a joke, dude! _He freaking opened his eyes_! Quick!”

The human felt sleepy, but he didn’t dare closing his eyes again. He had slept enough for a lifetime.

_Beep... beep... beep... beep..._

* * *

 

The next few moments became foggy in Frisk’s mind – his conscience fading in and out, his blurry vision barely making the outline of the doctors and nurses around him. He felt himself being carried from his bed, and a sinking feeling in his stomach indicated he was speeding up through a hospital corridor.

He closed his eyes, suddenly feeling sick.

“What’s your name?”

Frisk opened his eyes again – he wasn’t speeding up anymore. His vision focused a little, and he was able to make out the expression of a dark haired, green eyed doctor dressed in a white lab coat.

“Frisk.”, the human replied, feeling his tongue swollen and rolled. “My name... is... Frisk.”

The doctor held up a small pen over Frisk’s eyes, and he had to avoid looking as they flashed a white light directly over his face. Doing so, he caught sight of the nurses that were in the room – none of them could hide their expressions of amazement.

The doctor turned the pen’s light off.

“How old are you, Frisk?”, he asked.

But Frisk’s vision was beginning to spin and fade out again.

“How old are you, Frisk?”, the doctor repeated.

“Seven... seven... teen...”, the human mumbled.

He couldn’t remember what happened next.

* * *

 

He woke up again to find himself back to his hospital room, which was now illuminated by a gentle, yellowish light from a desk lamp next to him, as the night had fallen outside. His vision was perfectly fine, and he felt himself well rested, although there was a sour taste in his mouth he couldn’t get rid off. Well, at least he wasn’t wearing a breathing mask anymore.

He blinked a few times and tilted his head to the window next to him – it was a quiet, starry night, and he was reminded of that night Sans taught him the constellations, a night that felt like it happened forever ago.

But he wasn’t alone in the room.

“MK?”, he called, trying to tilt his head to the other side. As doing so was painful, he just heard someone standing up and approaching, and when he finally managed to look to the other side, MK was already standing there, looking at him.

The yellow monster had seen better days – heavy bags under his eyes indicated he hadn’t slept well for quite some time. He wore the same sweater as always, but it was dirty and the collar was chewed up. The two looked at each other, MK’s eyes wide, in a similar fashion it did when he talked about Undyne six years prior.

“This is a miracle.”, he slowly said, thunderstruck.

It was, indeed. Frisk was there – he was still alive, when all the odds had been against him.

“How long have I slept?”, the human asked, happy to notice his voice sounded normal, and not groggy.

MK gulped – his lower jaw trembled a bit, like he was seeing a ghost.

“U-uh... a month, I think? God, but how are you even _alive_? There was so much _blood_ , and even after we got here your heart stopped twice, but the doctors always managed to revive you! I... We...”, the yellow monster started to mumble as his voice cracked. “We thought we had lost you...”

“But... but how did we get here?” Frisk asked back, frowning. “How... what happened?”

But MK began rambling, speaking in a quick manner that almost left Frisk’s head spinning again.

“We found you! And then – and then! They stormed in, and... and they subdued Undyne and now she’s arrested, and all monsters are back to the Underground, and we thought you died but now you’re alive and... _god_ , you’re alive, but we don’t know what will happen to us and–”

“Whoa, calm down!”, said Frisk, trying to raise an arm to calm the monster, but it felt like an anchor was attached to it.

MK sniffed, and the human shot him a funny look.

“Are you... crying?”

“N-no, I’m not!”, but the monster turned his face so Frisk couldn’t see it. “Idiot.”, he mumbled.

Silence fell between them once more, and Frisk waited for the yellow monster to turn back to face him to continue the conversation.

“Can you tell me what happened?”, he asked again. “Calmly this time. My brain can only take so much.”

MK took a deep breath, and closed his eyes for a moment. The human knew immediately that would be a long story – but it was okay. He had time – for the first time in a while, he actually had _time_.

“Okay... when you ditched us back in the lab...”

“I didn’t _ditch_ you!”, Frisk protested, annoyed.

“Papyrus and I went back through the elevator we came through earlier, back into Hotland.”, MK continued, ignoring the human. “You’d be amazed how quickly Papyrus can run when he’s worried. Anyway, we managed to reach the last chamber in the Underground, where the barrier used to be and there... there we found Undyne, yelling at one of the guard dogs. And near the exit... laying there...”

His voice failed, and Frisk understood why. Of course, what they found there was nothing but the human’s body, drenched in blood, completely motionless.

“Papyrus got _really_ mad.”, the yellow monster continued, somberly. “He yelled at Undyne... said that, after that, he didn’t believe she was a good person anymore. Undyne said she didn’t mean for that to happen, but he didn’t listen. He cast his blue magic and plucked her and the guard dog to the ground. I thought...”, MK coughed nervously. “I thought he would actually kill her. But before that could happen... humans bursted through the exit of Underground. A lot of them.”

Frisk blinked.

“Wait... _what_!?”

MK gave an emotionless laugh.

“Yeah... and there weren’t just regular survivors... they were being lead by a special squad, and they had really powerful weapons, so they subdued us real quick. I think... I think Undyne’s shields had failed, or something.”

As MK spoke, Frisk remembered the little details from the moments before he was stabbed.

“Undyne deactivated the shields herself.”

“What?”, the reptilian monster asked, frowning. “Why would she do that?”

The human explained the reasons that led to Undyne giving up on the war and deactivating the shields, which meant monsters would finally lose. MK listened attentively, though a hint of disbelief still showed on his expression.

“I... don’t get it.”, he said. “Giving up like that... is not like Undyne. At all.”

“I disagree.”, said Frisk, sighing. “I think... considering the circumstances, this shows Undyne was still... herself.”

MK looked puzzled at the human.

“What I mean is...”, he continued. “When the war started, I thought Undyne had become wicked, consumed by revenge. I _feared_ her, MK – and to be honest, that wasn’t really wrong of me. The last thing I wanted was to face her. And then, when I found her there... I noticed she was aware of all the pain and suffering that war brought to everybody. She wanted to give monsters a better life, and then saw her decisions made the exact opposite happen. Even if she had personal reasons to keep that war going, she knew she couldn’t keep it – not at the cost of so many lives. _Innocent_ lives. In the end, her sense of justice spoke louder.”

Which meant that the Undyne on this timeline was not _that_ different from the Undyne on the timeline Frisk freed everybody. Different circumstances shaped people in different ways – but their core values, the very composition of their soul, was always the same. In peace – and in war. 

“I guess you’re right.”, said MK, shaking his head in melancholy. “This war wasn’t easy on anyone, huh?”

“Yeah...”, agreed Frisk, sounding tired. “Anyway, what happened next?”

MK frowned.

“Uh... where was I? Oh yeah – they subdued us. And then...”, to Frisk’s surprise, MK gave quite a hearty laugh. “The most impossible things happened, one after the other. First: you moved. You raised your arm high, and then let it fall. That’s how we discovered you were somehow _still alive_. This got the attention from the squad, and two of them picked you up from the ground and began quickly taking you out of there. Papyrus made motion to follow, but the rest of them pointed their guns at him.”

Frisk was feeling quite uneasy with that story – even if, by judging MK’s expression, everything probably turned out alright. He just couldn’t see exactly _how_ , in the moment.

“And this leads us to the second thing – among the regular survivors that were alongside the squad, a certain group came to the front.”, the reptilian monster cast Frisk a smug look. “C’mon, man, you know who I’m talking about.”

The human had an idea, but it seemed so improbable it actually felt a little ridiculous to say it out loud. Still, who else could it be?

“You don’t mean... Leonard and Eileen?”

MK’s smile grew wider.

“Yep. They recognized me, and tried to convince the squad Papyrus and I were good. It was _really_ tense.”, he added, his expression turning darker for a brief second. “Leonard and a guy from the squad were _this_ close to shooting each other, honestly. But in the end they let us – and by ‘us’ I mean Papyrus and I – accompany you to the emergency heli... heli... _ugh_ , you know what I mean... that was at the top of Mt. Ebott – the one that drove to the nearest non-destroyed town that had a hospital. Here. I guess that was the third impossible thing. And the fact you reached here alive is the fourth. Actually...”, MK looked to Frisk in awe, as if the story he told was just now sinking in. “Again: how did you stay alive? You... you lost a lot of blood out there... when you came in here, the doctors said the chances of you surviving were less than five percent. And in the case you _did_ survive, it was very probable you’d be in a coma. Forever. And yet... you’re here. You’re awake. You’re talking.”

Frisk had been wondering about that himself – but in the end, the answer was quite obvious.

“I guess that’s what an overdose of determination does to you.”, he replied with a little smile.

MK’s eyes widened, and then he closed them and shook his head, as if noticing he should have known better.

“Of course... ‘ _the will to keep going_ ’.”, he mumbled. “That stuff is really strong, huh, dude?”

“Yeah...”, agreed Frisk, chuckling. “Talk about a hell of a drug.”

A companionable silence fell between the two – and it reminded Frisk how glad he was the yellow monster was alright. It was actually amazing how they managed to develop a friendship during such dark times – but perhaps that was why their bonds were so strong. It made it so hope – that little, yet insistent flame inside Frisk’s heart – never went off. Not really.

But then, MK looked down, and then back to the human, visibly uncomfortable. There was a subject he was trying to bring up, but he had trouble doing so. Frisk braced himself for it – he knew _exactly_ what the next topic was about.

“In the end, it didn’t happen, right?”, the yellow monster finally said. “The reset.”

Frisk shook his head, weakly.

“It didn’t.”, he confirmed.

“Frisk, but... this doesn’t make any sense!”, continued MK. “All this time, we’ve been after the reset. You’ve never given up, no matter what happened! And let’s not forget you took a determination boost back in the hidden lab. So... _why_? Why are we still here?”

Frisk looked to the window for a moment, gazing at the stars on the night sky outside. Over the past months, he had learned many ugly truths about the world – truths that dared his own convictions. But perhaps the hardest part was happening right now – he was noticing the truth about _himself_ ; the motive the reset didn’t happen.

“I _hesitated_ , MK.”, explained Frisk, calmly. “You’re right, I was determined to make the reset, but... at the very, _very_ end... when I was about to lose all my forces... I hesitated. I was never completely convinced the reset was actually the right thing to do, even if I kept repeating this to myself. I’ve been having doubts all this time, even without noticing. The things I spoke... the ways I acted... why did Sans’ death kept affecting me so badly, even at the prospect of reversing it? Why else did I bother making promises I knew no one else would remember?”

Frisk turned to face the reptilian monster, who was looking at him with a sorrowful expression.

“I guess you were right.”, the human continued. “I _was_ trying to save, to _redeem_ myself... so I took the reset as an opportunity to have something to fight for.”

“Dude, I didn’t mean to...”

“No, no... you just made me see more clearly. I was selfish. I’m sorry.”

MK opened his mouth, but closed it again – there was nothing to be said. Frisk looked back to the starry night.

“There’s another thing...”, he said.

Frisk couldn’t quite begin to describe how he knew what he was about to say – yet somehow, he was sure of it. All that time, he had been looking at the reset matter as a big jigsaw puzzle – but he never noticed there was a tiny little piece of it that had always been missing from the start.

“I... I don’t think the power to reset was ever really mine.”, the human began, unsurely. “I used it, sure, but... whoever had the _real_ control over the resets and timelines... was something else.”

At that point, MK was probably used to hearing those strange things – but even he had trouble picturing out what Frisk was trying to say.

“‘ _Something_ ’..?”, the yellow monster repeated.

The human shifted in his bed.

“Yeah, something... bigger than us, you know?”

“You mean... like a god?”

Frisk frowned. He had never been a religious person, so the thought of everything being in the hands of a “god” didn’t convince him. Still...

“I’m... not sure ‘god’ is the right word for it.”, he concluded.

Perhaps there were things he wasn’t meant to understand.

“What I mean to say is that you were right, MK.”, he stated, finally seeing a truth he once refused to. “I should never have played with time. Who lives... who dies... what happens next... it’s not up to me to decide.”

Time was something dangerous, after all – one look at what happened to Dr. Gaster would explain why. After everything the human did – after all the resets, and exploring all possibilities – he was lucky to be in one piece.

“I...”, MK began, giving a weak smile. “I... kinda prefer it this way, you know?”

Frisk looked at MK, and the expression he saw in their face... that glimmering hope in their eyes – the look of someone who found a future to look forward to – it made the human think perhaps he preferred it this way, too.

The future, right now, was foggy for everybody. What would happen to monsters? To humans? In a more personal level, what would happen to Frisk, MK and Papyrus? The thought made Frisk unsettled, but it was a good kind of unsettlement. The future would give him a reason to fight (or act) for.

Actually, the future was probably already presenting him with a challenge at that exact moment.

“MK?”, Frisk called.

“Yeah?”

“I’ve been moving my body during this conversation.”, he explained. “You know, my fingers, my hands, my neck. But I’ve been trying to move my toes for some time now, and... _I can’t_.”

The human felt the reptilian monster tensing up, but he pressed forward.

“Actually...”, he continued. “I... can’t feel my legs anymore.”

A glance at MK’s expression confirmed what Frisk was thinking. The monster shifted his weight on his feet, clearly uncomfortable.

“Y-yeah... so... apparently, you were heavily damaged on the base of the spinal cord and...”, he swallowed. “You won’t be able to use your legs anymore, because chances of recovery are zero. I guess... you couldn’t escape that one, man. Sorry.”

The reptilian monster glanced the human a careful look, as if they were expecting him to cry, or yell in disbelief. He, however, wasn’t feeling upset about it. After surviving all that madness, it would be naive of him to think he would escape it completely unscratched.

“Well, would you look at that.”, Frisk slowly said. “I don’t have my legs. You don’t have your arms. Maybe we’re meant to be soulmates.”

“Oh, shut up!”, exclaimed MK, although he chuckled.

Frisk laughed too, and not because of his joke – but because he felt _hopeful_. Yes, the future could be scary, but it was also so full of possibilities. He’d just have to make it so his future was on his hands, and not in anybody else’s.

“You’re gonna be okay, Frisk.”

Over the past months, the two had said that to each other a handful of times – but when they did, they were mostly trying to avoid falling into despair. This time, however, was different – there was a sincerity in MK’s words that warmed the human’s heart.

“I know. We’re all gonna be.”

For the first time, that could actually be true.

* * *

 

“ _Nearly two months after the empress of monsters was captured, it didn’t take long for special forces to either capture the ones who remained in the surface, or terminate who was still causing trouble. People are finally starting to move back to the towns nearby Mt. Ebott. The police and the military are working alongside civilians to reconstruct the cities – but it certainly will take more than a while before the survivors, former citizens of the attacked towns, can return to their normal lives._

_Meanwhile, monsters are back to living inside Mt. Ebott, where it was recently discovered it housed a whole, complex structure, known simply as ‘the Underground’. For the moment, all possible exits from the mountain are sealed with walls, mines and electric traps to prevent any escapes. Military forces are also constantly guarding the place to ensure higher security. We asked the civilians who are helping the reconstruction of the town nearest to Ebott what they think about it. This man, who preferred not to be indentified, expressed his concern:_

_‘I don’t feel safe at all. Those things have broken out before, who guarantees they won’t do it again? I hope the minister does something about them.’_

_The ‘minister’ our interviewee refers to is Mr. Thomas Wright, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the country. Wright has been quite busy dealing with the monsters, although he has not made diplomatic attempts with them to this date. Our crew contacted him to know if he has anything in mind on the matter. His office sent us a reply stating that ‘whatever they decide, it will be with humankind in mind first’. They are still waiting for the full recovery from the now popularly named ‘Angel from the Underground’, as they say they’d like to hear his thoughts on what to do with the monsters._

_As we previously explained, ‘The Angel’s’ identity is being kept secret by the government, most likely because he’s still underage. For the moment, what we know about him is-”_

Frisk turned the television off. He always kept coming back to watch the news, but he never liked the direction the reports went. He turned back to the junior jumble that Papyrus had given him to keep him entertained. It was probably the easiest thing ever, although he progressed in a slow pace in purpose so that the skeleton wouldn’t be too disappointed.

He looked to his hospital room’s window. The sky was tinted a celestial blue, and there wasn’t a single cloud to be seen – it was one of those rare days from winter when the weather would clear up, although the temperature was probably still freezing. He could hear the buzzing of cars and people coming and going down the streets – the sounds of busy city life.

Two weeks had passed since he woke up from his coma, and he was beginning to long the time when his legs were functional – at least then he would have been able to walk to the window and actually see what was going on below.

For most of the time, he stayed in bed, although every once in a while the nurses came in to a physiotherapy session so he could strengthen his muscles, which obviously had weakened due to keeping still for one whole month. Fortunately, most of his “free time” (when doctors or nurses weren’t checking on him) was spent in company of MK and Papyrus, who did everything possible to cheer him up. Frisk appreciated that – in those moments, the future didn’t seem so scary.

But now, it was early morning, and the two monsters would not be showing up until afternoon that day – which meant the human would be alone for some time. He was bored – he wanted to go out, but the doctor said they’d only allow that once he had fully recovered, which, in the most optimistic of perspectives, would take another two weeks at least.

Nevertheless, he was genuinely surprised when there was a knock at the door and a nurse came in. He looked curious at her, since he wouldn’t have another physiotherapy session until the next day.

“Mr. Frisk, you have a visit.”, she announced.

The human raised an eyebrow.

“Is it Papyrus or MK?”

Her lip trembled a bit – like most people in the hospital, they weren’t too fond of the two monsters that came to visit him often. He couldn’t really blame that reaction, but as long as they were allowed to visit him, none of them really minded.

“No, but...”

“Then I’m not interested.”, he said, looking back to the window.

It wouldn’t be the first time – journalists have tried to get in contact with him ever since he woke up from coma, and Frisk wanted to spare himself from the harassment. In the hospital, at least, he could do that – but he knew that once he got out it would be more difficult to remain out of the spotlights.

“Well, she insists, mister.”, the nurse continued. “Claims to know you. Her name is Eileen Johnson.”

Frisk looked back to the nurse, his mouth opening in surprise. Could it really be? For a moment, he doubted it was actually Eileen, since it could very well be a journalist concealing their identity. But then, how many people in the world knew that Frisk and Eileen were acquainted?

“Shall I let her in?”, asked the nurse.

Frisk snapped out from his thoughts.

“Y-yeah...”

“Excuse me.”, she said, giving a little smile.

As the nurse left the room, Frisk had only a few minutes to wonder why did Eileen decided to come and visit. They were acquainted, and she certainly helped him reach Mt. Ebott back in the prison, but apart from that they really didn’t have any lasting relationship.

Moments later, there was another knock on the door, and the nurse entered, followed by Eileen.

Frisk was impressed by how she looked like a... _normal_ teenager. Back in the prison, her clothes were ripped and dirty – she looked like a survivor that had gone to hell and back. But now, she wore clothes girls usually wore when going for a casual trip to the shopping mall – a blue blouse, black jeans, sneakers. Her curly hair fell neatly on her shoulders.

They looked at each other and the nurse excused herself, closing the door after exiting. The room fell in silence – to a point even the noises from outside seemed to diminish.

“Hey.”, finally greeted Frisk.

“Hey.”, she replied.

For a moment, the human didn’t know what to say, until a funny thought crossed his mind. He let out a small chuckle.

“You must have a good reason for coming here.”, he stated. “I mean, if the media finds out you know me, they’ll never leave you alone.”

Suddenly, Eileen’s lips curled into a little smile.

“I know.”, she said, nodding. “What they’ve been calling you now? ‘The Angel from the Underground’, or something along those lines?”

Frisk couldn’t help his face scrunching up by hearing the new “nickname” the media had given him. He didn’t like the thought of being referred to in that way, or even of people _thinking_ of him like that. It felt wrong – it made it look like he had battled Undyne to the death, deactivating the shields that gave monsters some sort of strategical advantage, when the truth was actually a lot less interesting, and his actions a lot less heroic.

“Yeah. Talk about corny titles...”, he said, rolling his eyes. “Makes me sound like a demon.”

Eileen laughed as she walked to a corner of the room and picked a chair.

“You can’t blame them.”, she said, dragging the chair next to his bed and sitting on it. “The war is over now, after all.”

“It is, but if they knew the whole story they wouldn’t be putting me in a pedestal.”, admitted Frisk, suddenly feeling his face going red. He had a clue now of why Eileen had visited. “I just... _happened_ to be in the Underground when they invaded there and subdued the monsters.”

“And would you mind telling me what happened?”, the girl asked, confirming Frisk’s suspicions.

The human couldn’t really find a reason not to. In the prison, Eileen _did_ help him and MK get away based purely on intuition. And then, the war was over, and when she next saw him, he was on the floor, drenched in a pool of blood, in the same room as the empress of the monsters. That must have raised a lot of questions in her head.

Considering that, she deserved to know the truth.

So he told her about what really transpired in the last room of the Underground – he didn’t mention the resets, though. Eileen listened closely, nodding from time to time as he explained.

“... and that’s when that squad bursted through the exit, subduing everybody, according to MK.”

Eileen leaned back on her chair, crossing her arms, looking down deep in thought for a moment.

“And how’s MK?”, she suddenly asked, looking back at Frisk.

“He’s fine.”, replied Frisk, a bit taken aback, as he wasn’t expecting that particular question. “He and Papyrus come to visit everyday, so things don’t get too boring around here.”

“They’re the only monsters that are here with us on the surface, right?”

“Yeah, and that’s thanks to you.”, the human replied, nodding nervously. “All other monsters are captured and back to the Underground. Except the empress, Undyne, who’s being kept in a separate place.”

Eileen nodded, bitting her lip. She then shot Frisk that piercing look she was so good at – like she was staring right into his soul. There wasn’t any hostility in it like it used to, but the human was still uncomfortable at it.

“Okay... so maybe you didn’t fight like a hero against the empress... and the war ending is just a coincidence.”, she slowly said. “But you should know people are not stupid, Frisk, and neither am I. You _were_ up to something. I have a hard time believing you just... _happened_ to be there when it all came crashing down.”

Frisk felt his mouth dry.

“I was.”, he admitted. “But it went wrong, so it doesn’t matter anymore.”

“Look, all that I’m saying is that I think you played a part in ending this war, even if you don’t see it.”, she said, sighing, and passing her fingers through her hair. “And in any case, you were the only human to know where the entrance to the Underground was before the war even started, so there’s that. You do know a lot about monsterkind, and that’s one of the reasons you’re the...” – she coughed – “‘Angel from the Underground’”.

Frisk found himself unable to stand her look, and chose to look back to the window, at the beautifully clear sky outside. Silence filled the room once more, but the human could tell their conversation wasn’t quite over yet.

“The Minister of Foreign Affairs wants to talk to you once you recover.”, she commented, nonchalantly.

The human gave a dry laugh.

“Yeah, he wants to know my opinion on what we should do with the monsters now.”, he said. “At least that’s what he says to the press.” 

“And what will you tell him?”

Frisk looked back to Eileen – she seemed to be legitimately curious about the matter.

“What would you do?”, he asked back.

Eileen shot him a funny look and shook her head.

“Frisk, seriously, I don’t think I get a say on this.”, she stated plainly. “Because I’ve only seen monsters during war – and in a war, people may not always act in their best behavior. But you? You have monster friends, so this means you’ve seen monsters in their _best_. Whatever you tell the minister, you should have this in mind.”

Frisk thought for a moment about what the girl had just said. Then he remembered all the times he was attacked by monsters. And then he remembered Sans, Papyrus and MK, and all the acts of kindness and companionship they demonstrated. He remembered the monsters that had been so kind to him six years before, and then came to the surface to a start a killing spree. Yes – it was a complicated matter, one he’d have to think carefully about.

But for the moment, he decided to change the subject.

“How’s your group?”, he asked.

Eileen actually smiled at that question.

“Everybody is okay. No more casualties, which is a miracle.”, she said. “I don’t know... maybe Chris was... up there, watching over us. I like to think about it like that.”

At the mention of Chris’ name, her eyes got a little sadder, although she still smiled. Frisk himself felt a soft squeeze in his heart, too.

“Chris... he didn’t deserve to go that way...”, he said, bitterly.

“A lot of good people didn’t.”, she added. “But that’s what happens in war. I...”

Eileen looked to the ground, shaking her head. Frisk thought her eyes were strangely shiny... like there were tears in them.

She then looked up, and the shine was gone.

“I’ve seen death take people I cared deeply in this war.”, she gulped. “And Chris wasn’t the only one. I’m sure you can relate to that. Sometimes... sometimes I wondered if it was worth to keep going, enduring all that pain. But then I remembered Chris and... other people I knew, that passed away... and I knew I needed to keep going, so their sacrifices wouldn’t be in vain.”

Looking her in the eyes, Frisk had that sudden, clear realization that the war had impacted both he and Eileen in similar ways. Made them change, grow, and see the world with different eyes.

Their losses were part of their histories – holes that could never be filled up entirely, but served as motivations to get stronger. To keep going. To stay determined.

The girl then stood up, checking her phone. It was such a common gesture in the modern world – but after months without seeing a functional phone in front of him, the device looked almost like an alien artifact.

“Well, I gotta go.”, she announced, clearing her throat in a polite way. “Get well, Frisk. I have the sensation we’ll see each other in the future.”

She smiled, and this time Frisk couldn’t help but return it.

“Bye, then.”, he said. “And thanks for coming to visit. Tell Leonard I said hi.”

“Will do.”, she nodded, and then turned around, walking towards the door.

When she opened it, she hesitated a little before going out. She then turned her head, so she could see Frisk once again.

“Hey, Frisk?”

“Yeah?”

She gave a little smile and looked to the ground, avoiding his look. Frisk noticed she grabbed the door knob with more force.

“Tell MK I think he’s kinda cute.”

He blinked, and she left.


	9. Futures

A couple days after Eileen visited, Frisk received it from the hospital staff – a white, official-looking envelope with the country’s crest marked on it. He eagerly opened it, and it turned out the authorities were serious when they talked about him – the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr. Thomas Wright, wanted to speak to him about the... _aftermath_ of the war. The meeting was scheduled for the exact same day his doctor predicted his discharge from the hospital. 

When he told Papyrus and MK about it, the former freaked out – not because of the meeting itself, but because Frisk told them he didn’t have any formal clothing for the occasion. The skeleton promised they’d find something good for him to wear on time. Frisk knew Papyrus’ taste in fashion wasn’t the most usual, so he tried to convince them he was fine the way he was, but they didn’t listen. Frisk could only pray they wouldn’t buy a green tuxedo. Or one of those fake tuxedo t-shirts.

Meanwhile, Frisk had time to think about what he would tell the minister. He wasn’t stupid – he was fully aware he had become some sort of symbol of human power in the war. “The Angel from the Underground” – the blood-drenched hero who fought against the empress with all his might.

People didn’t know the whole truth... but maybe Frisk could use his position to actually be listened. He was receiving an insane amount of attention from the media – and authorities – and he knew they wouldn’t have given a second thought to him if he hadn’t become this symbol.

What would the minister want to know? Probably how Frisk knew where the entrance to the Underground was. The reply the human would give to that answer would lead to another question – what were monsters like? And it would all culminate into that one fatal question: how should they deal with the monsters? Seal them again, this time not with “magic”, but technology?

Or maybe kill them, and solve the problem once and for all?

There was something funny about how humans dealt with war – they had the tendency of choosing the solutions that would likely lead to other wars. With bitterness, Frisk thought that a third war between monsters and humans _could_ happen in the future – maybe not the near future, but the possibility still existed.

But perhaps... perhaps he could reduce the chances of that happening, at least. Yes... it was time to do something different.

He made up his mind.

Between the physiotherapy sessions and Papyrus and MK’s visits, the day for the meeting with the Minister finally came. Frisk woke up with the lonely ray of sunlight that seeped through the curtains and lighted the room. From what he could see between the gap in the curtains, that day would be a sunny one, with clear skies.

After a quick breakfast (the thought that meal would be the last of hospital food he’d see in a while cheered him up), the doctor came in for a final examination. As they had predicted, Frisk was as fine as he could be – he had recovered nicely from the injury in his stomach, and the physiotherapy helped him get back in form.

“Well, Mr. Frisk, I must tell your case is extraordinary in the medicine world. I’ve never seen anyone recover like that from such small chances!”, the doctor stated, passing him some paperwork for the discharge. “You’re free to go. I contacted your... friends, and they’ll be passing to pick you up shortly.”

The human nodded as he completed the papers with his information and signed, passing it back to the doctor. As they left, a nurse came in with a package.

“One of your friends sent this early.”, she said, handing him the package. “It’s marked as... uh... _urgent_ , as you can see. Excuse me.”

She left the room, and Frisk looked at the light brown package on his lap. He recognized Papyrus’ handwriting in red marker, the words “FRISK”, “URGENT” and “ROOM 302” all over it. The package itself was soft, and the human felt his heart sinking as he realized what it probably was. With bated breath, he opened it.

A blue button shirt was neatly folded in there, alongside black dress pants and brown dress shoes. He released his breath – the choices were simple, yet quite elegant.

“Whoa, Papyrus...”, he muttered, blowing a low whistle.

He had the suspicion maybe MK helped to tame Papyrus’ choices – or not. He decided to give the skeleton the benefit of doubt and not ask about it.

He dressed himself – which took quite a while, since it was more difficult to do that when they couldn’t move their legs. On the first days on the hospital the nurses had helped him dress – even if the process left him totally and utterly embarrassed. He could be paraplegic now, but he wanted to keep himself independent whenever he could. 

He thought that dressing the tight dress pants would be the worst part – but he soon learned putting the shoes was just as bad, if not worse. He didn’t have the flexibility to reach his feet, so he needed to use his hands to drag them towards him so he could fit the shoes. He felt pathetic, but he would have to get used to it. This was his life now.

Just as he finished tying his last shoelace, there was another knock on the door and the nurse came back in, pushing a wheelchair into the room.

“This will be your wheelchair, Mr. Frisk.”, she stated. “Remember from your therapy sessions...”

“How to ride it, yeah.”, he completed, moving himself to the wheelchair. “Pretty simple, actually.”

It... wasn’t all that bad, to be honest. It was quite comfortable.

“I’ll be pushing you to the ground floor today, though.”, she said. “Your friends are waiting.”

The human couldn’t help but smile – the thought of seeing Papyrus and MK always cheered him up, and that day even more. He felt it in his heart that important decisions would be made that day – and that filled him with determination.

The nurse pushed him through the hospital corridors – doctors, nurses and a few visitors walked around, and Frisk could feel their stares at his direction. Of course, even among the hospital staff he had become some sort of “celebrity”. He could also sense the nurse pushing his wheelchair walked in a proud manner, as if to show off ‘who’ she had been assigned to take care of. His smile faltered for a while.

They reached the elevators, and the nurse pressed the button for the ground floor as soon as they entered it. They descended, the only sound hearable being the humming from the elevator. The human had a weird déjà-vu sensation, but he tried to ignore it.

As they exited to the ground floor, the nurse began pushing him through the corridors once again, but as they kept going further and further, Frisk couldn’t help but frown as he noticed they didn’t seem to be heading for the entrance.

“Where are we going?”, he asked.

“Oh, I was instructed to lead you through the hospital’s backdoor.”, she said casually. “Apparently, word spread out that you would be discharged today, so the front door is full of journalists.”

He gave a frustrated sigh – of course, _journalists_. He’d have to deal with them sooner or later, but for the moment he was grateful at the hospital staff for being thoughtful about that.

They passed a double door that led to a small lobby, where Papyrus and MK were already waiting. The two monsters turned around and smiled at him, and Frisk smiled as he noticed they too had prepared for the day. The skeleton wore a magenta suit, dark dress pants and black shoes. The look was completed with a spotted tie hanging loosely around their neck. Frisk had to admit Papyrus managed to look somewhat elegant even in a magenta suit, and concluded that was the fanciest he would ever see them.

MK’s style was simpler – a white button shirt (sleeveless) under a gray suit vest. It made contrast with the monster’s yellow skin, but it still looked good.

“HUMAN!”, exclaimed Papyrus, walking towards Frisk and bending down to an awkward position to give him a hug.

MK joined them – and the human noticed there was a hint of nervousness in his smile.

“So, today’s the big day, huh, man?”

“Yeah.”, replied Frisk, feeling nervous himself. “Just hope everything goes alright.”

“OH, YOU’LL BE FINE!”, stated Papyrus, making a dismissive motion with his hand. “YOU’RE GOOD WITH TALKING! BESIDES, WE’VE BEEN THROUGH WORSE!”

Frisk couldn’t help but chuckle – and hearing the skeleton’s words also made him feel a bit more confident. They were right – he’s _been_ through worse.

“I’m leaving him to you, then.”, said the nurse, letting go of the wheelchair and giving a small nod. “If you excuse me...”

Papyrus suddenly made a deep bow towards her.

“THANK YOU FOR TAKING CARE OF HIM!”, he said, straightening up.

The nurse blinked a few times, surprised by the compliment, and unsure of what to say. She had never talked to a monster – and after seeing the war unfold from afar – she probably didn’t expect an interaction with one to be anything like that.

“Oh, uh... y-you’re welcome.”, she finally said, stuttering a bit. “Well, if you excuse me...”

She left through the double door – the trio watched her until she disappeared from view.

“That’s probably the longest sentence anyone besides you has directed at us since we arrived in this town...”, commented MK, sounding a bit sad.

“People don’t have a very... _favorable_ look on monsters because of the war.”, stated Frisk, plainly. “But hopefully that will start changing today. Slowly, but it will happen.”

MK and Papyrus exchanged a look and then looked back to the human, puzzled.

“What do you have in mind?”, asked the yellow monster, raising the part of his face where his eyebrows would be.

Frisk thought about giving them a full answer of what he was planning to say to the minister – but that would take time, and they needed to be on schedule. Instead, he gave the extremely short version of it:

“Peace.”

“Whoa. That’s vague.”

“Come on, we have places to go.”, said Frisk, impatient, changing the subject. “The meeting will be on the city hall – any ideas how to get there?”

Papyrus suddenly bounced excitedly, nodding vigorously. It was a funny sight, considering the formal clothes he was wearing.

“THE MINISTER SENT A CAR!”, he announced. “IT’S JUST OUTSIDE, WAITING FOR US!"

“Well, that make things more simple.”, said Frisk, smiling. “Let’s go.”

Papyrus made motion to start pushing Frisk’s wheelchair, but the human interrupted.

“Thanks, Papyrus, but I think I can handle myself.”, he said. “If I need help I’ll call, okay?”

Papyrus stopped in mid-act, and retreated his hands, seeming a bit embarrassed, but he soon smiled.

“OKAY!”

With that, Frisk put his hands on the wheels at his sides and pushed them forward. He had trained that before, but he couldn’t help but feel a little awkward. The doctor had said that was natural, and that he’d get used to it in no time. Papyrus and MK walked both on each side of him, making the human feel he was being accompanied by two very peculiar bodyguards.

When they exited through the hospital’s backdoor, there was a surprise.

It wasn’t the cold temperature that reminded Frisk he was only wearing a button shirt, and no coat. No – he _wished_ it was just that. When the trio exited the building, their visions became impaired by the thousands of flashes made by thousands of cameras, and the mixed, loud voices from the swarm of journalists that had gathered in there, each of them making a different question. 

“Mr. Angel! How old are you?”

“Is it true you fought the empress of monsters, mister?”

“Are you friends with the monsters?”

“Rumor has it you were a monster who became a human, Mr. Angel! What do you say about that?”

“Would you mind a quick interview?”

Frisk put his left hand in front of his eyes to protect them from the lights of the flashes, attempting to keep riding the wheelchair with his other one – but that was too difficult. The chair made a weird turn, and he could feel the journalists closing in on him. He looked at Papyrus with a pleading expression, and fortunately nothing else needed to be said.

“OKAY, THAT’S ENOUGH!”, Papyrus’ voice was heard above of all the journalists. “HE’S NOT INTERESTED IN INTERVIEWS NOW! EXCUSE US!”

The journalists backed off a bit, some of them looking at Papyrus and MK with apprehension, but most of them kept talking, asking their neverending questions.

Papyrus then grabbed the wheelchair and began leading Frisk across the swarm. MK lead the way, trying to open a path through that confusing gathering of people.

“He’s not interested.”, he kept saying as they proceeded. “Please, we need to go. You’ll be able to ask your questions later. Maybe.”

Frisk could see a big, black car just up ahead – a man in a black suit waiting outside it. Suddenly, a cameraman jumped in front of MK and snapped a picture. The yellow monster flinched and averted his eyes.

“Hey, now that’s just rude!”, he yelled, angry. “Don’t go jumping in front of other people like that!”

The cameraman seemed frightened and backed off, but that only made more journalists close up to take his space.

Then, the man in black suit seemed to notice the trio was struggling making their way across, because he walked towards them and gently pushed the journalists around, stretching his arms so they could pass. The sounds of dozens of voices still filled the air.

Finally, they made it to the car. Considering they needed to help Frisk get inside and fold his wheelchair, they actually managed to get all inside fairly quickly – under 30 seconds, maybe. The man in black suit entered the driver seat and turned on the engine, but the journalists had gathered around the vehicle – their faces pressed against the window, their voices now muffled.

Frisk was sat in the middle seat, between Papyrus and MK. The yellow monster glanced a look to the people outside, and then back at the other two, looking scandalized.

“Geez, why won’t they let go!?”

“THEY’RE JUST DOING THEIR JOB, MK!”, the skeleton replied. A second later, one of the journalists began knocking by his window, making a motion for him to lower it. He threw his hands in the air. “OH, C’MON! I’M TRYING TO DEFEND YOU HERE!”

Meanwhile, Frisk tried to keep looking straight, doing his best to ignore the journalists. He wasn’t used to that kind of attention – and he didn’t want it. He just wanted to be left alone – but that wouldn’t be easy for him now, would it?

Eventually, the man in black suit managed to make the journalists disband by sounding the horn and making small moves with the car. They got to the street, and Papyrus looked back as they saw the people disappear in the distance.

“SO, YOU’RE REALLY FAMOUS NOW, HUMAN!”, he said, quite happily, looking at Frisk. “I DARE SAY... MAYBE JUST AS FAMOUS AS METTATON WAS!”

Frisk gave a chuckle.

“I wouldn’t say I reached that level yet!”, he said, jokingly. “I mean, I don’t have my own soap opera...”

MK snorted.

“Dude, I’ve just had, like, the weirdest vision.”, commented MK, barely holding his laughter. “A soap opera in which all the characters are Frisk.”, then the monster thinned his voice and shifted to a melodramatic tone. “‘ _Oooh, Frisk! I think... I think I’m pregnant... with Frisk’s baby!_ ’”

Both Frisk and MK laughed loudly, but Papyrus just stared at the two, outraged.

“THAT’S _NOT_ HOW METTATON’S SOAP OPERAS WERE!”, he objected. “I’LL HAVE YOU KNOW THEY HAD _VERY_ COMPLEX AND WELL WRITTEN PLOTS!”

MK had laughed so much tears had appeared in his eyes.

“Y-yeah, sure...”, he said, sounding as if he was about to burst out laughing again any second. “What was the last one’s plot twist? All the Metattons were clones, or something?”

Papyrus made an impatient sigh while Frisk rolled with laughter.

“YES.”, he confirmed. “AND IT WAS VERY GOOD, NO MATTER WHAT THE HATERS SAY!”

“C’mon, Papyrus! The name of the show was ‘ _The Clones of Me_ ’!”

“IT WAS A _METAPHOR_!”

Frisk’s laughter had already subdued at that point, and he glanced a sketchy look at the skeleton.

“Don’t you mean...”, he said, a funny tone in his voice. “A ‘ _mettaphor_ ’?”

MK’s smile suddenly vanished, replaced by a cringy scrunch. Papyrus opened his jaw, as if to say something, but closed it and put his hand on his chin, thoughtful.

“THAT WAS... NOT TOO BAD, ACTUALLY.”

The rest of the ride was spent with the three talking, making jokes and engaging in meaningless conversations. Maybe it wasn’t that big of a deal, but Frisk found that comforting, specially considering the important meeting he would have looming over his head.

After all, he too needed some nice friends and some bad laughs in his life. Maybe some good food, too, while he was at it.

After about a quarter of an hour, the car took a turn, and Frisk recognized the city hall – a big building with the whole block to it, a set of stairs leading to the entrance. A small courtyard was in front of it – and the human sighed when he saw the people in there, “waiting” for him. People holding microphones, notepads and cameras – journalists. There weren’t as many as it did back in the hospital, but still...

So much for some peace and quiet.

Frisk heard the man in black suit talking through an earphone as they approached the city hall, but as he wasn’t paying attention, he didn’t get what they said.

They parked right in front of the courtyard that led to the city hall, and as soon as they did so, the journalists approached, curious – though they kept a careful distance to the vehicle. They probably couldn’t see the inside very well because of the dark windows.

“AT LEAST THEY LOOK MORE... _POLITE_ THAN THE ONES AT THE HOSPITAL!”, commented Papyrus, looking outside.

Frisk knew that once he stepped out of the car they would swarm around him – he didn’t bother pointing that out to the skeleton, though.

The man in black suit exited the car and quickly opened the rear door on Papyrus’ side. The skeleton got out, and Frisk could see the journalists timidly stepping back as he did so. He and the man proceeded to pick Frisk’s wheelchair from the car trunk, and set it up just outside the door, so the human could move himself to it.

Just as he thought, he had barely sat on his wheelchair when the journalists quickly gathered around him, their voices mixing up together as each of them asked a different question. MK discreetly got out of the car behind the human in the meantime.

“PLEASE, HE’S NOT INTERESTED IN THIS NOW!”, began Papyrus, his loud voice sounding clear above the crowd.

But Frisk just had the weirdest idea.

“No, Papyrus – I’ll... I’ll talk.”

The voices immediately lowered considerably – there was a faint murmur of journalists telling their cameramans to turn on their cameras, but Frisk could feel they were just waiting for him to tell something.

What the hell was he doing?

“I have a meeting with the Minister of Foreign Affairs, now.”, he said, not sure where to look. “But you already know that. I’m not entirely sure what we’ll talk about – but it will very likely involve the monsters in Mt. Ebott. I’ll speak in more detail once the meeting is over.”

Not even a second passed from the moment he finished speaking, the journalists began all asking their questions at the same time. Frisk could barely make some of them out.

“Do you know anything about Mt. Ebott the public yet doesn’t?”

“Are you acquainted with the minister, mister?”

At that moment, the man in black suit tapped on his shoulder and approached his ear.

“The minister and the mayor are already in front of the city hall. Let’s move.”

With that, they began moving through the crowd of journalists. Oddly enough, it was as Papyrus said – they were way more polite than the ones by the hospital, as they let them get through with no resistance, although they kept asking their questions unstoppably. At the very least, Frisk could ride his wheelchair this time.

As they proceeded, Frisk could see that two men had appeared by the bottom of the stairs that lead to the city hall building. One of them was tall, slim and elegant, wearing a blue suit – his black hair (with a few grays) neatly combed to the side. The other was small, slightly chubby and wore a brown dress coat over a white buttoned shirt. They both smiled – though the taller one did it with more discretion than the other. Looking at them side by side, Frisk had the weird feeling he knew _who_ was the minister and _who_ was the mayor.

“Ah, Mr. Frisk!”, said the chubby man, smiling even broader, taking the human’s hand on a vigorous handshake. “Delighted to see you! I’m the mayor of this fine town – hope your stay at the hospital was good?”

The mayor talked about hospitals as if he was talking about five-star hotels, but Frisk returned the smile and nodded. He could hear cellphones ringing and cameras flashing – the journalists were surely doing their job, and some people passing by had stopped to watch what was going on as well.

Frisk then turned to the other man, who gave a warmer smile.

“It’s a pleasure to finally meet you.”, he stated in a low, polite voice. “You must already know who I am – Thomas Wright, Minister of Foreign Affairs of this country.”

“The pleasure is mine, minister.”, Frisk nervously replied.

They shook hands – the minister had a firm grasp.

“And who are your companions here?”, he asked, looking at the two monsters next to Frisk.

“These are Papyrus and MK.”, the human introduced. “We travelled around together in the war.”, he glanced a look to the two, and smiled. “I owe my life to them.”

“In this case, it’s a pleasure to meet you, too.”, said the minister, shaking hands with Papyrus.

The skeleton had a very serious look on his face – he was dealing with serious business, after all.

“HONORED TO MEET YOU, MINISTER!”

The minister was about to repeat the gesture with MK, but stopped mid-act when he noticed...well, they didn’t have any arms. For a moment, he seemed awkward, unsure of what to do. MK would normally throw a joke about that, but in the presence of an authority they simply sighed and did their best not to avert their eyes.

“Nice to meet you, minister.”

“Yes, uh... nice to meet you.”, the minister replied, awkwardly letting his arm fall to his side. He cleared his throat. “So, shall we enter the city hall for our meeting?”

Frisk nodded and then faced the stairs. He looked to the sides, trying to spot a ramp or something he could use to climb, but there weren’t any. The mayor seemed to notice that, because his face went crimson almost instantly.

“Y-yes... um...”, he stuttered. “We’re working on the... _accessibility_ of the building. But for now, uh...”

The human looked at Papyrus, and didn’t need to say another word – the skeleton grabbed the wheelchair and, with care, began pushing him up the stairs. Frisk’s body shook up and down with the motion, and that made him feel pathetic – specially since he was aware of the people on the courtyard watching them.

Finally, they reached the top. Frisk glanced a look behind and felt his heart sinking – a lot of people had gathered in there; a hundred at least. It seemed word that “the Angel” had appeared for the meeting with the minister had spread like a wild fire.

Feeling strangely hot in his face, he was pushed to the entrance of the city hall.

The entrance hall of the building wasn’t anything really special. The walls were covered with a salmon wallpaper that made the place look older than it probably was. A candlestick decorated with cheap crystals was at the center of the ceiling, and its rather big size called Frisk’s attention even though the lights were off. A counter on the middle of the room separated the entrance from the area normally only employees would be able to enter, and two receptionists who looked particularly bored were sitting by there. As they noticed the mayor and the minister had entered, though, they immediately stood up.

“Hello Hannah, Michelle!”, the mayor greeted joyfully. “This is Mr. Wright, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, and – of course, this young man here with us is Frisk. You may know him as ‘the Angel from the Underground’. Oh, and please don’t be afraid of Papyrus and NK, I know they’re monsters, but they are quite friendly and are accompanying Mr. Frisk here.”

“It’s _MK_...”, mumbled the yellow monster, sounding slightly down, but the mayor didn’t listen.

Frisk tried to ignore the fact the two receptionists seemed to have set their eyes on him, and weren’t looking anywhere else. A few, uncomfortable seconds passed in which no one moved or did anything.

The mayor coughed.

“So?”, he asked, his voice still cheerful. “Can you please open the counter so we can pass?”

One of the girls (Michelle?) snapped out of her daze and proceeded to lift part of the counter, opening a passage to the other side. The five of them passed, lead by the mayor, who seemed to be in the most excellent mood. Judging the shocked reactions from the receptionists, Frisk reckoned that city didn’t receive many visits from ministers of foreign affairs, nor instant celebrities made from the media and their monster friends. He grinned in a sort of dark amusement.

As they walked through the building corridors, the mayor chattered about how the town had began to thrive when he was elected and how glad he was the war hadn’t reached it. More than once, though, he hinted the administration could do a little better if the government supported it better financially, glancing meaningful looks at the minister – who elegantly decided to ignore it. Finally, they all crammed inside a rather small elevator to go up. Frisk’s wheelchair took almost the whole space, while Papyrus needed to lower his head to fit in.

They reached one of the higher floors and the mayor lead them through more corridors – still talking during the whole time. Finally, they reached a door that the chubby man pushed open, revealing a cozy looking room – with three blue sofas in the middle set in a “U” form in front of a wooden desk, next to a fireplace that didn’t look to have been used for sometime. A tube television was set on a little wooden stand by a corner, and by the other corner a small refrigerator made a low but constant humming noise.

“Welcome to the meeting room, where we can have our... uh... meeting!”, the mayor proudly announced.

“Actually, Mr. Mayor...”, said the minister, glancing a look across the room. “I was hoping maybe to have this meeting with Mr. Frisk alone. If you don’t mind.”

Oddly enough, he looked more to MK and Papyrus than to the mayor. The two monsters looked to Frisk, seeking some sort of confirmation, and the human nodded, trying to seem confident. Meanwhile, the mayor’s smile faltered for a brief second, but he quickly recomposed.

“Of... of course, minister!”, he said, the cheerfulness in his voice sounding a little fake this time. “I’ll take our two monster friends here for a tour in the building!"

Frisk caught a glimpse of MK looking at him with a “you better be quick with this” type of look.

“Good. We can have some coffee later – we’ll need to discuss what to tell the press, too.”, said the minister.

“Of course, of course!”, the mayor agreed. “There’s a telephone by the desk. Just call the reception when you’re ready!”

“Right. Thank you, Mr. Mayor.”, said the minister, bowing his head.

Frisk bowed his head to the mayor too, and discreetly winked at MK and Papyrus.

Everything would be alright. He needed to believe in that.

As the mayor took the two monsters for their “tour”, the minister closed the door.

“Well, Mr. Frisk, we need to talk about some serious issues.”, he stated. “I’d like to sit on a sofa, if you don’t mind. I’m tired of having meetings by these big, round desks.”

The human rode his wheelchair to the sofas, but the minister went to the corner of the room where the refrigerator was. As Frisk tried to slid himself from his wheelchair to the sofa (a task harder than he previously thought it would be), the man opened the fridge.

“Do you want anything to drink?”, he asked, casually. 

Frisk was still trying to get to the sofa without falling to the ground – because that would be embarrassing – and was slightly taken aback by the question.

“Oh – no, thanks.”, he quickly said.

“Are you sure?”, the minister asked back. “There’s juice, iced tea, soda, water...”

Frisk had finally managed to sit on the sofa, and tried to make his legs stand in a position that wouldn’t look unnatural. _God_ , that was weird.

“Just... just water, please.”, he said, shyly.

“Water it is, then.”

The minister picked two water bottles and walked to a cabinet, retrieving two glasses from it. He poured the content from the bottles inside the glasses, picked them up, and walked to the sofas, handling Frisk one glass of water and sitting on the sofa across the human with his own.

“You didn’t need to have sat on the sofa.”, the minister commented. “I understand your situation and how difficult it must be for you.”

Frisk felt his face getting hotter. The minister was right – but perhaps the human was just too proud to admit it.

“It’s no problem.”, he mumbled.

“If you say so...”

The minister took a sip of his water – Frisk decided to do the same.

“So... I figure you already know why we arranged this meeting, right?”, the man asked.

Frisk looked them in the eyes – they seemed sincere enough. But it was for the best if he laid all the cards on the table right in the beginning – maybe then he would have an _actual_ chance to be heard.

“The fate of monsters in Mt. Ebott.”, he replied, dryly. “But this is all an act, right?”

The minister stopped in mid-act of taking the glass to his lips and stared at Frisk, cocking his head slightly to the right.

“An act? What makes you think that?”

“Well, it’s obvious, isn’t it?”, Frisk explained, feeling actually a bit silly, since he expected the minister to simply confirm it or straightforwardly deny it. “I’m the new person the media decided to paint as a hero – the ‘Angel from the Underground’. The government probably have already decided what to do with the remaining monsters, they just want this new ‘hero’ – me – to confirm their plans, so that they’ll get a more favorable take on public opinion.”

The human couldn’t help his voice getting lower as his explanation went on. He was basically calling the government manipulative – on the face of one of their representatives, no less. He feared he might have gotten too far with it, and that the minister would end the meeting right there, but the man simply shook his head, frowning.

“I’m sorry for your lack of belief in us, Mr. Frisk.”, he began. “But I’m afraid you only got it half-right. It’s true we have made a primary decision on what to do with monsters – but we _do_ want to hear you out.”

Although the minister sounded earnest, Frisk was still skeptical.

“Why’s that?”

“You see, Mr. Frisk, when the military finally broke into Mt. Ebott and we found you laying there in a pool of blood, the government found that very, _very_ interesting. True, you became the new hero of the media, but you also called our attention. Greatly.”

Frisk couldn’t think of anything to say, so he just took another sip from his water. He could see where that conversation was going.

“How did you know where the entrance to the monsters’ lair was?”

The human looked to the ground, suddenly feeling very tired. That story – he had told that story to lots of people, and yet so few knew the full, uncut version of it.

For better of worse, the minister probably wouldn’t be part of these few.

“I fell down there by accident six years ago. Actually, almost seven now.”, he said, giving a little, distant smile. Had so much time really passed since then? “There’s a cavern with a big, weird hole inside. I went there exploring as a kid, and I fell.”

The minister crossed his legs, his eyes showing a glimmer of curiosity – they were getting on the interesting part of the meeting.

“Fascinating...”, he muttered. “And how did you escape?”

“The previous king, Asgore, had waged war on humanity when his son managed to get through the barrier, and was killed by humans in a village.”, Frisk explained, feeling a quick, sharp pain in his head. He decided to ignore it. “To break the barrier, seven human souls were needed. They already had six. I was the seventh.”

“And yet, here you are.”, the minister commented, grinning.

“I got help.”, the human continued. “Most monsters tried to help me get out of there. Many of them didn’t even notice I was a human, because so much time had passed since they’d last seen one. But even when they did notice, they still tried to help me, because they were conflicted about waging war. Even the king was, to be honest.”

“So what happened?”

“When I escaped, the six human souls they had already gathered were lost. Undyne, the head of the Royal Guard, took over the kingdom – and she was determined to fight on a war for the surface. Let’s say she...”, Frisk shook his head, his heart filled with a sudden sadness. “She managed to wipe out the doubts about a possible war within a lot of monsters.”

Frisk waited for the minister to say something, but the man just kept looking at him, and the human had the weird impression they knew he wasn’t telling the whole truth.

“But not all of them.”, the minister said, in an affirmative tone.

Frisk was surprised by that.

“But not all of them.”, he confirmed – not that it was necessary.

The minister sighed and looked to the window in the back of the room. Frisk wondered what was going on inside his head.

“And why did you go back?”, he asked, still looking to the window.

That was the question everyone wanted the answer for. A few weeks before, Frisk was sure it was because of the reset – but as time passed, that idea seemed less and less real. Was that the _real_ reason of his going back to the Underground?

“I wanted to put an end to this.”, he explained. It was technically true, regardless of his motivations. “But don’t go thinking I actually managed to do anything. The only thing I did was get stabbed and almost die in there.”

“And why didn’t you report to the authorities?”, the man asked, looking back at Frisk. “When you first escaped the Underground?”

The human let out an emotionless laugh – was that even a real question?

“Would you have believed a ten-year-old saying he found a place inside the mountain where monsters lived?”

The minister’s mouth made a weird movement, as if he was intending to reply, but re-thought his answer in the middle.

“I suppose you’re right.”, he said, after a while. “We should give our children more credit for what they say from now on, then.”

Frisk didn’t reply to that – he looked to his own glass of water instead, still half-full. The minister’s, though, was almost empty. Silence fell between them, and the human felt the man’s gaze upon him, which made him feel uncomfortable. They still had a lot to talk about – including the _most_ important part, but where to even begin that?

“The decided protocol is to exterminate all monsters.”, the minister stated with a steady, decisive voice.

Frisk’s grip on his glass tightened.

“That’s a bad idea.”, he replied.

“It’s the safest alternative for human beings.”, said the man, matter-of-factly. “Our ancestors tried to seal them... apparently that only worked for so long.”

Frisk knew the conversation would take that turn eventually – he had prepared for it, but that didn’t diminish the anger and revolt that began to boil inside him. He took a deep breath – he _had_ to stay calm, otherwise he wouldn’t be listened.

“What do you intend to do?”, he asked, struggling not to sound too rough.

“We haven’t decided on the specifics yet, because we wanted to hear you out.”, the minister explained, his expression grave. “I figured you would oppose the idea, specially when we discovered you had two monster friends. But I can assure you this: they wouldn’t be affected by the decision of exterminate all monsters. We’d let them live.”

At least the minister wasn’t giving these fake, businessman smiles when talking about that. No – that was a serious matter, and in the very least the minister was a serious person. Even though the human was angry and scared at the prospective of a mass elimination of monsters, he managed to subdue those feelings out of respect for the man’s professionalism.

“What am I supposed to tell Papyrus and MK if I agree with this?”, he asked. “How would they feel by knowing they were only spared because they’re friends with me? Honestly, I wouldn’t have the courage of looking at any of them in the face after that!”

The minister leaned back to rest his back against the sofa, drinking the last of water that still remained in his glass. His face was still fixed with that serious expression it had adopted earlier.

“And what do you propose, then?”

“A lot of monsters fought in this war and killed a lot of humans. Some of them even went as far as killing other monsters. But some regretted that. Some tried to hide from all this mess.”, he said. His idea was clear on his mind, but he was aware he had difficulty translating it into words. “What I mean to say is, we should take each and every monster, and let them have a fair trial, or something like that. Those who show they can live with us peacefully here on the surface should be allowed to. Those who are not should be kept within the Underground until they are able to. But no one – _not even_ the empress – should be executed. No one.”

Frisk took a deep breath, and just watched in expectation as the minister’s expression remained unchangeable. Still, he began to feel strangely calm after his proposition. He had thought ahead of the questions the minister could throw at him. He got this.

“That would be a lot of work, Mr. Frisk.”, the minister stated plainly.

“But it’s the right thing to do.”

“Maybe so, but sometimes we need to think of a solution that’s quick and effective.”, he continued. “You’re young and full of ideals – and believe me, I can relate to that. When I was your age, I thought a lot like you, too. But the real world works differently, whether you like it or not.”

“Then you should think harder, minister.”, Frisk said, dryly. “While a general extermination is certainly quick – I _guarantee_ it won’t be nearly as effective as you think. Because even if you make the whole Mt. Ebott come crashing down and crush all the monsters beneath it, _someone_ would survive. And history would be repeated – there would be another war. Maybe not tomorrow, nor even in the next year, or the next 50. But it would happen – just like our ancestors didn’t foreshadow this when they created the barrier back then.”

The minister didn’t say anything – and after some seconds passed Frisk decided it was better if he kept going.

“But, if we do as I say...”, he continued. “If we gave monsterkind a chance... we would be opening the way to peace. Yes – it would be difficult, and it would take a long time, specially since there would be resistance from some humans’ part. But... step by step, we would be walking to an era where both humans and monsters can live in harmony. Maybe you and I won’t be here anymore to see that happening – but we can plant the seeds now. The seeds for a better future for everybody.”

Frisk actually smiled when he finished talking – his words sounded so true, even to himself, that his heart was filled with a warmth and comfort like he had never experienced before. And his words were spot on – Papyrus would be proud.

“Why are you so determined on this idea?”, the minister finally asked. “Of giving monsterkind a second chance?”

The human closed his eyes for a bit, and various moments from the war flashed through his head. Sans saving him from Undyne. Those members of the Royal Guard attacking the cabin in the woods where his group was, alongside Bonnie, Berna and Boone. Papyrus leaving him and MK the day after his brother died. Meeting Eileen and Leonard’s group. Chris teaching him self-defense. Papyrus coming back. The trio crossing the Underground once again.

All those moments, those experiences, lead him to that moment right there with the minister – and the answer to their question came easily to his mind, like something he knew all along, but only now had he become aware of it.

“Before the war, I thought humankind was trash.”, he began, looking to his glass of water. “I had my reasons. After my mother died and I went to live in the orphanage, no human ever offered me their hand, nor had I seen any form of kindness from them. No – the first act of kindness done to me was by a _monster_. So, for the longest time, I thought monsters were kind and compassionate, and humans were cold and egoistical.”

He didn’t look up – he kept taping his glass of water, seeing the vibrations trembling the liquid. For some reason, it helped him concentrate.

“But then, the war came.”, he continued. “And I saw monsters doing horrible things. Destruction. Murder. I saw _they were capable of evil_ – and believe me, I had a hard time dealing with that. Meanwhile, I also saw humans being kind and merciful, for the first time of my life. That flipped my whole world upside down. Weren’t monsters supposed to be the good guys, and humans supposed to be the bad guys? Whose side was I on, in the end?”

He stopped taping his fingers on the glass.

“Until I finally learned... whether you do good things or bad things... it doesn’t matter if you’re human or monster. What matters are your choices. And everyone can be good if they just try – everybody... _everybody_ deserves second chances.”, he said, looking firmly to the minister’s face. “I know that because I was given too many chances to simply deny them to others. That’s why... that’s why I’m not giving up on monsterkind.”

The minister leaned forward, resting his wrists on his knees, looking to the ground – the glass of water still held firmly in his hand. Frisk waited with bated breath – he could sense the man was processing what he had just heard, deciding if the human’s solution was worth something. Some seconds passed in which the silence of the room seemed to get bigger and louder, almost oppressive. Frisk’s heart beat with force inside his chest.

“This won’t be an easy road for anyone, Mr. Frisk. _Specially_ for the monsters.”, the minister stated, glancing up to the human.

“I know. But easy roads don’t usually lead to the right solutions, either, so I think it’s a challenge worth taking.”, Frisk replied.

The minister straightened up, and to the human’s surprise... he actually smiled – a true, genuine smile. Frisk suddenly felt his throat very tight and his eyes widened with surprise. No way... had he..?

“It’s been a while that I thought about doing ‘the right thing’, Mr. Frisk.”, commented the minister. “And I certainly would never have thought a 17-year-old teenager would make me do it... but I suppose I should listen to the ‘Angel of the Underground’ in this matter. Monsterkind... shall be given a second chance.”

It was as if a lightning bolt had passed through Frisk’s body. His eyes widened and his mouth became extremely dry – but this time it wasn’t because of horror and shock, but genuine, pure _joy_.

He laughed and buried his face in his hands, some tears of relief escaping his eyes.

 _He had done it_. He had earned monsterkind a chance. And, in a certain way, he had earned _humankind_ a chance, too.

The next few minutes passed in a blur in Frisk’s mind – much because he entered such an elated state that he had not experienced in a long, long time. He and the minister shook hands, and the latter promised he’d arrange a new meeting with his office and the human so they could discuss the first steps on integrating monsters to the surface, and what to do with those that would be kept in the Underground for the time.

Then, of course, they needed to call Papyrus, MK and the mayor back. As the minister walked to the telephone on the desk at the back of the room, Frisk moved himself to his wheelchair – and it didn’t seem as difficult to relocate his body as it did before the meeting began. He looked to the windows, the warm sunlight and blue skies finally inspiring him as they should.

Better days were on their way.

The minister hung up the telephone and walked next to where the human was.

“They’ll be here soon.”, he announced. “Is there anything you want to know or clear up before they arrive?”

Frisk looked to the door – he couldn’t wait until Papyrus and MK entered the room and they’d announce what had been decided in the meeting. His smile had not faded from his face – and probably it wouldn’t for the next moments.

“Yes.”, Frisk replied after a while, looking up to the minister. “Do you know if they still sell those ‘Cool Dude’ t-shirts?”

* * *

 

In different circumstances, Frisk would have avoided the media at all costs. However, as they planned on integrating monsterkind to human society, the government would need someone to assure everybody that things were under control, and that the monsters allowed to live on the surface meant absolutely no harm. And no one was more fit for that job than Frisk – after all, he was still the ‘Angel from the Underground’, wasn’t he?

While a considerable amount of people supported it, there were those who got very frightened over the idea of living alongside monsters. Although no direct attacks to monsters happened, hate messages were spread across the internet and threats were written on walls – threats not only directed to monsterkind, but to Frisk as well. After he began defending his ideas, the human quickly turned from ‘angel’ to ‘demon’ for _a lot_ of people. It was an expected outcome, but the Minister of Foreign Affairs insisted on hiring body guards to go wherever Frisk went nonetheless – a proposal to which he reluctantly accepted after both Papyrus and MK expressed their worries over him.

Meanwhile, the trio bought a simple, yet cozy little house with two floors, near a lake on the outskirts of a town on the other side of the country – far away from the memories of war. Far away from Mt. Ebott.

Money wasn’t a problem – monsters used gold as a currency in the Underground, and that was worth something on the surface, specially considering both Papyrus and MK’s family had quite nice savings on it.

The most funny thing though was how the three of them decided to live together without really talking about it. Deep in each of their hearts, they knew they didn’t want to be separated. They didn’t want to be separated ever again.

And Frisk was happy. He had planted the seeds for peace between humans and monsters.

And, perhaps most importantly, he had finally made peace with himself.

Of course, even then things weren’t perfect.

Frisk woke up one night gasping for air, sweat covering his whole body and making his pajamas stuck. For a moment, he moved frantically on his bed, with only the primal thought he needed to move, to get out of there somehow, guiding him. But then, as his heartbeats decreased and he got a better grasp on his conscience, he remembered he wasn’t in any actual danger. He was safe and sound in his very own bedroom. It had just been another nightmare.

 _Another_ nightmare.

Ever since he left the hospital and began advocating for monsters after that first meeting with the minister, he’d been having trouble sleeping. His work was stressing, after all, and the body guards with him almost all the time added to his nervousness. By the end of the day, after meetings and more meetings, talking to the press, and keeping a close eye on the monsters’ trials, he’d be exhausted. He didn’t complain, it was a good kind of exhaustion – and there was something so heartwarming about finally having a _home_ to return to, in which his friends, his new _family_ , were waiting for him, that always gave him strength to overcome any obstacles he’d face in his new work.

But then, he couldn’t sleep. And when he did, the nightmares were almost always around the corner, waiting to get him. They were usually very surreal and agitated versions of situations he had faced during the war. Flashes of colored light, distorted versions of humans and monsters he met along the way, explosions of dust and blood, over and over again.

He lay on his bed, facing the ceiling as his eyes adjusted to the dark. It was still night outside, as evidenced by what he could see from the gap in the curtains, but a quick look at the cellphone on his bedside table told him that sunrise wasn’t really far. Still, he could see the stars were shining brightly in the sky, and he smiled to himself. One of the best things about their new house were the beautiful stars that were always so visible every clear night, and both the sunrise and the sunset were stunning.

He was fully awake now – he knew he wouldn’t get to sleep easily, but considering the nightmares, he wasn’t sure if he wanted to, anyway. He looked to the window, biting his lip, and then to his wheelchair next to his bed. If he didn’t make any noise...

He sat up, and reached out for his wheelchair. After moving himself a bit, he managed to pull it closer and carefully began sliding himself to it. He needed to be extra careful – if he fell on the floor, not only would that make a loud noise and probably startle MK and Papyrus in the upper rooms, but he’d also need to call for their help, and that would be embarrassing.

Considering how his legs seemed to weight more in the moments right after he woke up, it was a miracle he managed to transfer his body swiftly to the wheelchair. But then, he had managed miracles before, hadn’t he?

He turned around and silently opened his bedroom door, which was located in a small corridor on the first floor of the house, next to a bathroom. While MK and Papyrus’ room were both upstairs, Frisk didn’t want to make any noises to ensure they wouldn’t wake up. They’d probably just worry, anyway.

The corridor lead to the living room, which admittedly didn’t have much in the moment. The flat screen television combined with the sofa Papyrus had brought back from his home in Snowdin Town, topped with the walls painted in maroon gave the impression it was a miniature version of the skeleton’s former house in the Underground. Frisk didn’t mind – standing there felt comforting and familiar, which had become somewhat a necessity to him after his life had changed so much in the past few months. Plus, Papyrus was the one in charge of the house’s decoration, and it was useless to discuss with him about it.

Almost every night, he, Papyrus and MK would sit in that sofa and watch TV together – a completely normal thing to do, but Frisk had never experienced a moment like that before. He never had his own TV in his own house, let alone other people to watch with before. Maybe only with his mother when he was little, but he couldn’t remember that.

Papyrus was always amazed by the variety of human television broadcast (“ _THERE ARE SO MANY COOL THINGS TO WATCH!_ ”), while MK would complain every time they watched a terrible movie (“ _Man, and I thought Mettaton’s soap operas were bad!_ ”). Lately, the reptilian monster had been insisting on them getting a videogame console, which only left Frisk baffled by how they would play it, although he decided not to comment anything on the matter.

The memories made him smile – he had been doing that a lot lately. Things were, indeed, changing for the better.

He headed to the front door, grabbed a key from the key holder and unlocked the door, opening it as silently as he could. The fresh summer breeze blew itself into the house, and Frisk closed his eyes for a brief moment, enjoying it. He liked the scent from the vegetation around and from the forest near the lake – though he was glad he would probably never have to sleep _in_ it again.

The house was on top of a small hill – and just up ahead, when the terrain flatted out again, there was the lake – a beautiful pine forest behind it. The stars’ lights reflected on the water, giving it a mysterious shine. Frisk thought for a while, and decided to go there.

He rode the wheelchair down the hill – it wasn’t difficult, as he had done that many times. Going back up was a bit more complicated, but not much, since the terrain wasn’t that much inclined, either. It was still a bit of a nuisance when he returned home tired, though.

As he approached the lake, though, he could agree that was a small price to pay to live in that location – the lake was beautiful, specially at night, and the house on top of the hill gave a peaceful vibe to the place. The road that took them to the city was easily accessible, but far away enough so they wouldn’t hear its buzz early in the morning. 

When he got close enough to the lake, he stopped, looking to the water, and then to the forest behind it. Up close, it really added to the scene, though Frisk had never thought about exploring it before – he had his fair share of forests and wild places for a whole life, after all. Still, maybe one day he would do just that in the future – when the war stopped being such a recent memory.

That was, if he managed to actually get _anywhere_ without bodyguards. In fact, doing what he just did – going out of the house in the middle of night – was something everyone had told him _not_ to do. What if someone with ill intentions was waiting just around the corner? What if he was kidnapped? What if he was killed? What if..?

What if he could actually appreciate the beauty of the place he lived in, for once? He snorted a laugh, closing his eyes and taking a deep breath. The nightmares had become literally the only thing he could complain about – because in all other aspects, his life had improved so, so much. 

He opened his eyes again as the breeze blew once more, making the still water of the lake move a little, making a low ‘blub’ noise. He gazed at it, contemplative. He used to be afraid of rivers, lakes, the sea and other places similar to it because of the traumatic experience of witnessing his mother’s death. But ever since that strange vision he had when he was in coma, all those months before, he discovered he had, somehow, overcome it.

The nature of that vision he had with Toriel and his mother at the top of Mt. Ebott still mystified him, and he had not told anyone about it. Was it a creation from his shut-down brain? Was it real? Did he _really_ see Toriel and his mother? What would have happened if he chose to stay?

“You shouldn’t be out here on your own, y’know.”

Frisk grinned, and glanced a look to his side. MK had appeared there, and was looking to the lake as well.

“You’re one to talk.”, the human replied, looking back to the lake. “Nightmares?”

“Uh-huh.”, the reptilian monster replied, sighing. “So much for therapy.”

The human laughed humorlessly. Yeah, therapy... had never really been a friend of his either. It certainly didn’t help his nightmares or the post traumatic stress disorder that made him feel he was suffocating in the middle of work from time to time. However, it could always get worse if he didn’t go to the sessions, so he always booked some time in his schedule for them.

“It’s been almost half a year, now.”, commented MK, casually. “That the war ended. Some monsters are already living here on the surface, thanks to you. But those nightmares haven’t got any better.”

“It’s a slow recovery.”, Frisk said back, shrugging. “We’ve been through a lot, remember?”

MK trembled.

“Yeah... glad it’s all over, and we’re alright. Kinda.”

Then, the two heard fast paced footsteps going down the hill, and turned around. Papyrus was coming towards them in his pajamas (which included a pink nightcap with a white, silly dog drawn on it) – not walking, but basically sprinting. Frisk and MK both glanced a look at each other, amused.

“WHAT ARE YOU _DOING_ HERE!?”, the skeleton asked as he approached, throwing his arms comically in the air. “DON’T LEAVE THE HOUSE LIKE THAT IN THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT! SPECIALLY IF YOU FORGET TO LOCK THE DOOR WHEN YOU DO SO! WHAT IF SOMEONE ENTERS!?”

MK made an expression of fake terror when Papyrus said that.

“Oh my god, you’re right!”, he said, his voice quivering in a mocking way. “Frisk, you should enter the house first when we return – you know, in case the mad axe-man has entered it. They’re all after you now, apparently.”

Frisk exploded in laughter, mainly due to the fact MK didn’t change his expression. Papyrus, however, stomped on the ground.

“THIS IS NOT FUNNY!”

“Geez, Papyrus, _relax_!”, said Frisk, making a gesture for the skeleton to approach. “Besides, it’s not the middle of the night anymore – look, the sun is rising.”

And indeed it was – although the pine forest blocked direct view from the sun, the sky’s night blue was slowly giving place to a lighter tone.

Papyrus made a weird noise with his mouth that sounded like he was trying to say “IRRESPONSIBLE TEENAGERS”, but joined the other two, standing at Frisk’s other side. The trio gazed at the lake in silence, as the sky got brighter and brighter. Dawn was one of those weird, inspiring moments that made it so no words needed to be spoken. Papyrus, who had been grumpy with worry, couldn’t maintain that mood for much longer, and Frisk felt them becoming lighthearted once more.

“WOWIE! THE BEGINNING OF A NEW DAY IS ALWAYS SO BEAUTIFUL!”

That was something all the three of them could agree with – and watching the sunrise with good company just added to the experience. Frisk smiled – he was sure that would become one of those simple, fond memories he’d think back whenever he faced any hardships.

Because there would be hardships for them. The war was over, and each day that passed it became more of a thing from a history book rather than a real, present event. But the future... the future held so many uncertainties, so many new challenges, they couldn’t even begin to imagine what was about to come.

And yet, Frisk knew in his heart all three of them would be alright, in the end.

They had each other – and that was all they needed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> End..?


	10. Epilogue: New Constellations

“ _heya, pap._

_~~knock kno~~ _

_it feels weird to write this, but if you’re reading this letter that means i’m already dead. or maybe you’ve been poking around in my stuff ~~again~~ , but... nah, i have a feeling you’ll only ever see this if i’m gone._

_oh, and if you’re not papyrus, you shouldn’t read this. it’s rude to read messages not addressed to you, right? right. hope that clears things up._

_welp, now that we got that out of the way, we can start the real business._

_so, pap, you might be wondering why i wrote this in the first place? i wish i could say it was because i was bored during my night shift and did this to pass time, ~~and that’s true i’m writing this during my shift, heh~~ but the truth is... i’m afraid, pap. afraid that you might never know the truth. the truth about us, as a family, i mean._

_you and i. we’re not biological brothers._

_do you remember anything about the ~~house~~ orphanage we lived in? i don’t expect you to, since you had just turned three when i took you and ran away. and i did that for an incredibly selfish motive. you see, papyrus, a couple was going to adopt you. but since the first day you came into the orphanage, i helped to take care of you, play with you, calm you down when you cried. as time went on, i began to see you as my little brother._

_you were my first friend._

_but no matter what i’ve done, i can always picture you forgiving me, because... that’s just the way you are. you understand people. you believe in them, and that’s a quality few have. let’s face it, though: your life would have been a lot easier if i hadn’t done what i did._

_remember all the long nights we spent on the streets – none of us being able to sleep because of hunger? remember when you couldn’t get any money, and you felt guilty because you thought you weren’t “helping” me? remember the times the owners of shops and markets would throw us out of their establishments, threatening to call the police? ~~still remember your worst fear then was that we would get separated, heh.~~_

_can you still forgive me after that?_

_my wish is that you never have to read this, and i can tell all this to you in person before anything bad happens. but we’re living in war, so i know the next day isn’t a certainty._

_and i’m a coward. i’m a coward because i can’t find the strength to tell you this. not yet._

_~~can you forgive me for that, too?~~ _

_but i don’t want to keep talking about the past. i wanna talk about the future._

_pap – when i’m gone, i want you to do what i would never have been able to if i were in your place: i want you to move on._

_i know this won’t be easy, ‘cause you care a lot about me, ~~more than i deserve, tibia honest~~. actually, you care about the well being of everyone who is dear to you. that’s another quality few have. ~~heh, who would’ve thought, for someone who was practically raised by me, you turned out pretty alright, didn’t ya?~~_

_but i know, deep inside, you’ll be able to do it. frisk and mk – i’m sure they’ll have a hard time, too. you three need to stick together. together, you’re strong. together, you’re safe._

_pap... please, no matter what happens, promise me you will keep believing in yourself. promise me you’ll keep believing in others. keep being yourself – the world needs the great papyrus more than anything, specially in these times we’re in._

_and know that, ‘til the very end, you were my little brother. my family. biological or not._

_welp, got a bit carried away with this letter. maybe i’m not that lazy, in the end. but i’m still not picking up that sock in our living room._

_~~i guess this is goodbye, then.~~ _

_love you, bro._

_\- sans”_

* * *

 

_Papyrus_

_Three years later..._

 

The flashy orange backpack lay open on Papyrus’ bed, piles of t-shirts, pants and socks around it. However, the skeleton wasn’t looking at that – but at his closet, searching for something else. He hummed a funny, fast-paced tune while he was at it – a habit he had had for sometime now. 

Oh, there it was! He picked the t-shirt up. He could take a lot of shirts in his trip, but he couldn’t forget about _that_ one.

He turned around – a mechanical sound of the house’s elevator filling the silence – and stopped, looking at all the clothes piled up on his bed, his open and empty backpack at the center. He couldn’t take all his wardrobe to that trip – that would be unpractical.

But... he liked all those t-shirts _so much_. Besides, he’d probably not have many opportunities to wash them, and wearing dirty laundry grossed him out. He frowned, trying to think of a solution.

“So you’re going today?”, asked a familiar voice from his bedroom door.

The human stood by the room’s entrance on his wheelchair, looking around insecurely, as if asking to come in. Papyrus let out a big smile.

“HUMAN!”, he greeted. “GOT EARLY FROM WORK TODAY?”

The human gave a little smile and entered the bedroom.

“Yeah... actually I asked to come home earlier.”, he replied. “Said I needed to study for my SATs.”

Papyrus twisted the shirt he was holding absentmindedly.

“OH, DO YOU NEED HELP?”

The skeleton was always eager to help those who needed – of course, being as great as he was, he was always ready to share his vast knowledge about the subjects he mastered, like cooking, for example. The human, however, giggled and gave him a patient look.

“That wasn’t why I asked to come home earlier, Papyrus.”, he stated plainly. “I wanted to say goodbye before you headed out.”

“OH.”, said Papyrus, a bit embarrassed. “OF COURSE! I KNEW THAT!”

From the way the human’s lips curled into a smile, it was clear they saw right through his lie, but the skeleton didn’t mind. The human was pretty smart, after all.

“You don’t seem to be ready, though...”

The human glanced a look to all the piles of clothes on Papyrus’ bed, cocking his head a little to the side to see the backpack in the middle.

“Um... all these won’t fit in that backpack.”, he said, matter-of-factly. “You sure you don’t wanna a suitcase instead?”

Papyrus shook his head, energetically.

“NO! I NEED SOMETHING MORE PRACTICAL THAN A SUITCASE TO CARRY MY THINGS! SPECIALLY CONSIDERING I’M GOING BY CAR AND... WELL, I HAVEN’T BOOKED A PLACE IN ANY HOTELS OR INNS ON THE WAY!”

The human’s smile faded away ever so slightly, but Papyrus noticed it. They broke eye contact and stared at the open window – the afternoon sun still high on the sky while the summer breeze filled the room.

They wore a white button shirt – it’s sleeves rolled up until their elbows. Their hair was long once again – but it was tidy and properly brushed, parted to the side. With a strange warmth in his soul, Papyrus noticed they looked like... an adult. For how long had they looked like an adult?

God, he was getting _old_.

“It’s pretty far away.”, the human said, finally, glancing a look to the skeleton. “The place where you want to go. You know that, right?”

“I DO!”, Papyrus stated, firmly.

“Don’t you prefer to... take a flight or something?”

The skeleton kept twirling the t-shirt he was holding without really paying attention to that. Sure, he had thought about booking a seat on those mechanical Tsunderplanes the humans had on the surface – they were so fast! But, when he really considered his options, he concluded going there by flying would kind of take the point of his trip away.

“NO, I’VE ALREADY MADE UP MY MIND!”, he confirmed, confidently. “I’M GOING BY CAR! DON’T WORRY, HUMAN, I’LL BE FINE! NYEH HEH HEH!”

The human looked at Papyrus for a moment, then nodded, agreeing, his eyes setting on the t-shirt the skeleton had been holding for a while now.

“Are you taking that one?”, he asked.

Papyrus held the shirt unfolded in front of him. The basketballs on the shoulders, the “Cool Dude” message written in neat letters... no one could deny that was one cool t-shirt.

“YEAH! I REALLY LIKE IT!”, he said. “EVEN IF I DON’T USE IT THAT MUCH...”

Anyone could see that – even though the human had given him that shirt almost three years prior, it still looked as good as new. Heck, it even _smelled_ as good as new.

“In that case, do you wanna any help packing?”, the human asked, smiling. “That way we can decide what you need and what you don’t need to take.”

Papyrus felt the smile almost automatically appearing on his face.

“WOULD YOU? THANK YOU, HUMAN!”

“Yeah, no problem!”

And so, they began packing. It was a slow process – they picked up a piece of clothing and decided if that would be packed for the trip or if it would stay. The human acted as a break to Papyrus – the skeleton was willing to take almost everything, while the human pointed out that he didn’t need to take some particular pieces (“ _You don’t need to wear a scarf in the summer!_ ”). It was a fun process – the human was good company.

Finally, they managed to choose a reasonable amount of clothes for Papyrus’ trip – and the orange backpack wasn’t exploding with things, as it would be if the skeleton was left to organize himself alone. Then, they began to run a checklist to make sure nothing important would be forgotten. The human checked the list Papyrus had made on the computer and read it out loud, while the skeleton made sure he had packed everything.

“Toothbrush?”

“CHECKED!”

“Toothpaste?”

“CHECKED!”

“Deodorant?”

“CHECKED!”

There was a sudden silence.

“ _Why_ are you taking deodorant?”, the human asked, looking back to Papyrus. “You don’t... sweat.”

“I LIKE THE SMELL!”

The human smiled in a way he only did when he was amused by an unusual answer – an expression Papyrus had learned to recognize.

“Your call.”, he said, looking back to the computer and closing the checklist file. “Everything’s ready. You’re good to go!”

Papyrus felt his soul thudding excitedly inside him.

“REALLY? WOWIE!”

He checked his cell phone for time – it was four o’clock, meaning that if he was fast enough, he wouldn’t even catch a glimpse of the traffic jams that would fill the nearest town’s streets.

He closed the backpack and wore it, shaking his collarbone to adjust it. Ok, that seemed fine – he was ready.

The human kept looking at him, their smile turning bittersweet.

“You’ll be careful, right?”

“OF COURSE, HUMAN!”, replied Papyrus, giving a confident smile. “I’LL BE BACK BEFORE YOU KNOW IT!”

He bent down to give the human a hug, to which they gladly retributed.

“I’m sure you will.”

They separated – Papyrus running a list of things he should remind the human of before he set off.

“THERE ARE SPAGHETTI LEFTOVERS ON THE FRIDGE FOR YOU AND MK!”

“Okay.”

“IT WON’T LAST A WHOLE MONTH, BUT YOU KNOW HOW TO COOK SOME SIMPLE THINGS, DON’T YOU?”

“You know I do...”

“DO YOU KNOW HOW TO FRY AN EGG?”

“Yeah.”

“PLEASE KEEP THE HOUSE CLEAN!”

“Will do.”

“AND BRUSH YOUR TEETH!”

“ _Okay, okay_! Are you finished, mom?”, the human asked with an ironic smile.

Papyrus puts his hands on his hips, smiling back.

“JUST WANT TO MAKE SURE YOU AND MK WON’T BLOW THE HOUSE UP WHILE I’M GONE!”

The human gave a hearty laugh.

“I’m pretty sure MK and I can handle ourselves just fine, thank you very much.”

“VERY WELL! I’M GOING, THEN!”

He turned around and walked out of the room – but when he was at the door he turned his head back to see the human looking absentmindedly at the window, and felt his soul getting a bit heavy. He had been postponing that trip of his for a while now – primarily because part of him was afraid to do it, but also because he didn’t want to leave the human and MK alone.

He was the oldest of the three, after all, and often felt it was _his_ responsibility to take care of the others. To be the adult of the family, in a matter of speaking. But looking at the human, he noticed that they had grown up, and that maybe he didn’t need to be always around for them. He smiled, happy and sad at the same time.

They would be fine.

“Have a good trip, Papyrus.”

The skeleton noticed the human was looking at him now, and he averted his eyes, snapping out of his thoughts.

He nodded, smiling, and set off.

* * *

 

_Their very first house wasn’t very big – two small bedrooms and perhaps an even smaller living room with a kitchen. But it was their own – and that was important. For the first time of their lives, they had a roof to live under. For the first time of his life, Papyrus had his own bedroom._

_He wasn’t used to it, though. He felt alone – and in the dark he also felt a bit scared. Those walls separating him from Sans felt strangely suffocating, and he always had trouble sleeping. To top it all, he also felt guilty because of it._

_The skeleton shifted sides on his bed – his own bed – trying to fall asleep. He counted sheep – something that always seemed to work with the cartoon characters. It didn’t work for him._

_After what seemed to be hours, he finally gave up on it and got up from his bed. He was tired of... feeling tired, and not getting any sleep. And if his trouble was sleep, then... well, he knew just who could help him._

_The master of sleeping, so to speak._

_He opened the door and entered Sans’ bedroom – their rooms were connected by the same door, a detail that proved their new home was indeed small, but in the end also meant they were never really far away from each other. Still..._

_As he entered the other bedroom, he immediately noticed the sound of soft snoring his older brother made. His eye (sockets) were now used to the dark, and he could see Sans sleeping heavily on the mattress on the ground. They had explained that they couldn’t afford two fully mounted beds yet, so for the moment Papyrus was the one sleeping on a real bed, while Sans would be fine with just an old mattress. At the time, Papyrus had protested against that, but Sans used his “older brother trump card” to put an end to the discussion. Papyrus was a kid, and kids needed the best sleep so they could grow healthy and happy._

_The situation was ironic. Not that Papyrus really understood what irony was._

_Not bothering with ceremonies, he lay himself down on the mattress, next to Sans. The older skeleton stopped snoring and moved a bit – the movement had awoken him, and he tilted his head, confused._

_“wha..?”, he asked, lazily yawning._

_“IT’S ME, SANS.”, announced Papyrus in his child-like, high-pitched voice._

_Sans took a while to respond, as he was yawning._

_“oh, ‘sup bro?”_

_“I CAN’T SLEEP...”_

_And that was when the guilt hit him harder. He could sleep with no problem when they were on the streets (except when they couldn’t get anything to eat, but thankfully that didn’t happen often). Why was he having trouble now, when they finally had a roof to live under? When Sans had finally gotten a job, and things were starting to get better? Was he that ungrateful?_

_A hiccup escaped from him, and Sans moved, noticing something was wrong._

_“hm? oh, c’mon, don’t cry... what’s gotten into you?”, he said, his voice slow with sleepiness. he shifted sides to face Papyrus and raised an arm. “c’mere."_

_Papyrus understood and approached his brother – and they wrapped their arm around him. The younger skeleton rest his head against his brother’s collarbone – something still possible to do since Sans was still a bit taller than him (though he had the feeling they wouldn’t get much taller than that)._

_“nightmare?”, Sans whispered._

_The younger skeleton shifted uncomfortably._

_“NO.”_

_“what is it, then?”_

_Before Papyrus knew it, he was spilling it all out._

_“I... I DON’T KNOW! I JUST... I THINK I FEEL ALONE AND SCARED IN MY ROOM, BECAUSE I-IT’S DARK AND I’M ALL ALONE AND I DIDN’T FEEL LIKE THAT WHEN WE WERE IN THE STREETS! I THINK...”, he swallowed, trying not to cry. “I THINK I PREFERRED TO BE IN THE STREETS AGAIN? BUT I DON’T WANT TO, THINGS ARE FINALLY LOOKING GOOD FOR US, AND I’M HAPPY AND YOU’RE HAPPY AND...”_

_He couldn’t complete the thought, and for a dreadful moment the room became too silent – he thought Sans was getting angry with him. But the older skeleton began making a weird noise – and only after a few seconds Papyrus noticed they were chuckling._

_“awwww, you miss me!”, said the older skeleton, amused. “you’re still my baby brother, after all!”_

_“I’M... I’M NOT!”, replied Papyrus, though deep inside he was glad Sans wasn’t mad._

_He felt Sans’ hug tightening a bit – as if reassuring everything was alright._

_“you don’t want to live in the streets again, pap.”, he stated. “it’s just that... this is all new to us, and new can be scary sometimes.”_

_Papyrus looked up – although from his position he couldn’t really see Sans’ face._

_“REALLY?”_

_“really. listen, i’m glad you opened up. i don’t want you to keep things hidden, okay? we’re bros and you can count on me for everything.”_

_Papyrus gave a tiny smile – he felt his soul inside him warm and comforting._

_“OKAY! YOU CAN... YOU CAN COUNT ON ME TOO, SANS!”_

_But Sans – master of sleeping he was – had already fallen asleep again._

* * *

 

Papyrus was still navigating through the town’s streets with his red convertible car (his pride and joy), trying to figure out the best route to get to the highway, when he made a change of plans.

It had been a while since he’d visited _them_.

As soon as they got permission to live on the surface, they got in contact with the human and moved to the same town he did. The trio used to visit them often – but it had been months since the last visit. The human had been up to the neck with things to do – he’d been studying hard to enter a good college, and working harder since the foundation of the brand new “monster-human” embassy the previous year. Meanwhile, MK was busy finishing his last high school year. As for Papyrus himself... well, he had a job at a restaurant he took _very_ seriously. He needed to if he ever wanted to make it for chef position!

But it would surely be nice to give a little hello before heading out of town for good. Once neighbors, always neighbors – or something like that.

He parked in front of their apartment building, wondering if they would be home at that time. Well, he’d never know if he didn’t check, so he walked to the building’s entrance and pressed some numbers on the intercom by its side. It called once, twice – three, four times, and just as he thought nobody was home, someone answered it.

“Hello?”, the voice was deep, but distinctively female.

“HELLO! BONNIE, IS THAT YOU? IT’S PAPYRUS!”

“Oh – hiya, Papyrus!”, her voice sounded more cheerful. “It’s been a while, right? But I’d recognize that voice anywhere – hold on a sec!”

The front door made a buzzing sound and opened.

“OPEN!”, the skeleton informed, walking into the entrance hall of the building.

It was a small, neat room with a painting hanging on one wall behind the sofa at one side, and an elevator next to the beginning of a set of stairs at the other. Bonnie, Berna and Boone’s apartment was located on the third floor – so Papyrus opted for using the stairs this time around, since the human wasn’t there with him.

He reached his destination fairly quickly (he always skipped a step because going up a step at a time was just _so_ lame) – Bonnie was already by her apartment’s door, wearing a casual blue blouse and black yoga pants. She smiled when she saw him.

“Hello, traveller.”, she said. “May I offer a piece of pie that just came fresh from the oven? It’s on the house.”

“THAT WOULD BE GREAT! THANK YOU!”

They entered – the inside of the apartment was cozy looking, reminding Papyrus of Snowdin Town, in a way his own home did too. Maybe the snowy little village from the Underground would always stick with its residents, wherever they went.

Once they got into the kitchen – with its checkered floor and salmon pink walls, like a café taken straight from the 50s – Papyrus laid out the table while Bonnie picked the freshly-baked cinnamon-butterscotch pie from the oven. They both helped themselves with rather generous servings.

“So... it’s been a while since you visited.”, commented Berna, cutting a piece of her slice with a fork.

“I KNOW! MK’S BEEN BUSY WITH TESTS IN SCHOOL AND BOTH ME AND THE HUMAN HAVE BEEN WORKING A LOT LATELY!”

“Is Frisk doing alright? I mean – can’t be easy for him to manage his work at the ‘monster-human’ embassy _and_ his studies to enter college...”

“OH, HE’S FINE! HE’S REALLY PUTTING HIS HEART INTO WHAT HE DOES! I’M SURE HIS HARD WORK WILL PAY OFF!”

“Does he have any idea what exactly he wants to study in college?”

Papyrus swallowed the piece of pie he had been chewing.

“YEAH! PUBLIC RELATIONS!”

Bonnie’s eyes lit up in amusement.

“Well, can’t say it doesn’t sound fit for him...”

Papyrus nodded, smiling. Since they had told him they wanted to study public relations, the skeleton had been the best supporter he could be. Despite all the long nights and bureaucracy at the work, he could tell the human really loved what they did, and having a major on public relations would be very useful in their field.

“This new embassy is a step in the right direction.”, stated Bonnie, twisting a piece of pie in her fork, not really paying attention to it. “There’s quite a handful of monsters working there, now, too.”

“WELL, OF COURSE!”, said Papyrus, cheerfully. “IT’S CALLED ‘ _MONSTER_ -HUMAN’ EMBASSY FOR A REASON!”

Bonnie smiled – Papyrus noticed she always seemed to rejuvenate when she did that.

“You’re right... but hey, why aren’t _you_ working with Frisk at the embassy, Papyrus?”, she asked, curious. “I have to admit – the quantity of Temmies working there kind of worries me...”

“OH, _C’MON_! EVERYBODY SAYS THAT, BUT THE TEMMIES ARE _REALLY_ INTELLIGENT! THEY JUST... KIND OF CHOOSE TO BE GOOFY MOST OF THE TIME... BUT IN ANY CASE, THEY HAVE GAINED THE SYMPATHY OF MANY HUMANS!”, said Papyrus, crossing his fork on his now empty plate. “BESIDES... DIPLOMACY IS NOT FOR ME!”

“Really? I always pictured you as a quite nice diplomat.”, stated Bonnie, crossing her fork too. “But that’s your life. How’s it been in the restaurant?”

Papyrus straightened up – something he always did when he was about to tell someone about his latest achievements at work.

“I WAS ELECTED EMPLOYEE OF THE MONTH!”

“Oh, congratulations!”, complimented Bonnie, her eyes widening. “That’s so nice!”

“NYEH HEH HEH! MY COOKING HAS IMPROVED A LOT THESE PAST THREE YEARS! IT WAS ALREADY SPECTACULAR – BUT NOW? IT’S ALMOST OTHERWORLDLY, I ASSURE YOU!” 

“Then you’re the one who will cook us dinner the next time.”, she said, her eyes sparkling. “Can’t wait to taste the food from the Great Chef Papyrus.”

The skeleton crossed his arms, smiling confidently.

“SOUNDS LIKE A DEAL TO ME!”

Bonnie then got up and took the plates to the sink. She returned with two cups of orange juice, and handed one to the skeleton. He gladly accepted it – the cinnamon-butterscotch pie, as delicious as it was, left him thirsty.

“WHAT ABOUT YOU THREE?”, asked Papyrus. “WHERE’S BERNA AND BOONE?”

“We’ve been fine, I guess.”, replied Bonnie, taking a sip from her cup. “Boone is at school working on a project and Berna is out doing some errands. We’re thinking on opening a bakery on the neighborhood.”

“WOWIE! THAT’S GREAT!”

“It is, isn’t it? I think the neighborhood here really lacks a good bakery...” 

She smiled, and they both kept in silence while they drank the juice.

“I feel... I feel things are getting better.”, she said, looking to her empty glass. “When we arrived here, almost two years ago, people looked at us either with fear or despise. But now... just this last week a nice old lady said ‘good morning’ to Berna when they met at the elevator, and Boone finally made a friend in school.”, she sighed, looking to the kitchen window. “Humans are slowly... _very_ slowly... starting to accept us. And for that, I’m thankful to Frisk. The boy has made the impossible... real, somehow.”

Papyrus didn’t reply anything – but he agreed wholeheartedly. In the beginning, both he and MK felt the angry and fearful stares on their backs every time they went to the mall or to a restaurant. People avoided looking them in the eye. But, as time went on, some began to notice that maybe – just maybe – monsters weren’t necessarily bad or murderous. They began to understand. Sure, things were far from perfect and a lot of humans were still strongly against monster presence on the surface. The hate messages. The riots. But those too were, little by little, getting more and more insignificant on the bigger picture.

The skeleton could even safely say pretty much everyone at his work liked him.

“Very well, traveller...”, said Bonnie, standing up to take the glasses to the sink as well. “May I ask you where you’re traveling to?”

“OH!”, exclaimed Papyrus, surprised. “HOW DID YOU KNOW I WAS GOING ON A TRAVEL?”

Bonnie glanced a long look to Papyrus’ backpack, which was on an empty chair next to the skeleton.

“Is wearing these huge backpacks a fashion statement now?”, she asked, narrowing her eyes.

“OH, N-NO!”, he stuttered, feeling his (face? skull?) getting hotter. “I AM GOING ON A TRAVEL! TO... TO MT. EBOTT.”

Bonnie stopped in the midway of an act to putting the glasses on the sink, her smile fading from her expression. She looked to Papyrus for what felt like a long, long time.

“Back to the...”, she began, insecure. “To the Underground?”

Papyrus shifted on his chair.

“NO...”, he replied. “IT’S... NEARBY.”

“I see...”

She lowered the glasses to the sink. Papyrus could feel the melancholy on the atmosphere of the room – and it wasn’t hard to know why. The Underground had been the home of monsters for centuries and – as hard as things sometimes were – there _were_ fond memories to be found there, even if the past few years had signified the ruin of the place. In some years (ten years? fifty?), the Underground would be nothing more but an empty place left behind – a mere page on a history book.

“They... moved Undyne back in there recently, haven’t they?”

Bonnie’s tone of voice was a bit difficult to read – in fact, Papyrus learned she could conceal her real emotions really well if she wanted to (no wonder she and Sans got along). But there was sadness in it – he was sure. And the reason for that...

During the war, after the incident at the cabin in the woods, when two Royal Guard members raided the place... it was Undyne who appeared after Papyrus and his group left. The empress stopped the fight – and took the bunny family back to the Underground, the last safe place for monsters. In fact, she had been taking monsters who didn’t want to fight back there. Bonnie, who had strongly opposed Undyne’s ruling, was probably caught off guard with that. Despite everything she did... maybe she wasn’t really a villain in that story.

“THEY DID.”, the skeleton confirmed. “SHE WAS BEING KEPT SEPARATED, BUT NOW SHE’S GOING BACK TO THE UNDERGROUND, ALONG WITH THE OTHER MONSTERS THAT ARE STILL IN THERE. MAYBE... MAYBE ONE DAY SHE’LL COME TO THE SURFACE, TOO.”

Papyrus was surprised with the pure, genuine hope in his voice – after everything he went through, after everything he had lost... he still had hope for Undyne.

He still believed.

Bonnie looked up at him again.

“Yeah. Maybe.”, she said. “She was your friend, wasn’t she?”

Papyrus shook his head with energy.

“NO, SHE _IS_ MY FRIEND!”, he corrected, and just a second later he realized what he said. “I’M... SURE OF IT. DEEP INSIDE... SHE’S STILL MY FRIEND. AND ONE DAY... WE’LL SEE EACH OTHER AGAIN." 

He knew that day probably wouldn’t be any time soon... but he knew it would come. And he would wait.

Because Papyrus wouldn’t leave his friends behind.

The sun was setting – the twilight cast a dim, purple light into the kitchen. Whoa, time had really flown by while he was there! He stood up quickly, wearing his backpack back on.

“I HAVE TO GO, NOW!”, he said, smiling again. “BEFORE IT GETS TOO LATE! THANKS FOR THE PIE, BONNIE!”

Bonnie, who had been looking so serious, let herself give a little smile.

“You know you’re always welcome, Papyrus.”, she said, approaching him. “I’ll take you to the entrance.”

They headed for the apartment’s front door, and Bonnie held it open for him.

“Farewell, traveller.”, she said, giving a little bow with her head. “Have a nice trip.”

“WILL DO! TAKE CARE, BONNIE!”

Papyrus entered the corridor and was with a foot on the first set of stairs when Bonnie called him again.

“Papyrus?”

“YES?”

She hesitated for a moment, as if deciding if she should actually say what she was about to say.

“Why are you... going back to Ebott?”

Papyrus gave her a kind smile, and looked to the ground. His reason for wanting to go back was... very personal – something he kept on the deepest part of his soul. _Only_ Frisk and MK knew why he was making that trip.

“THERE’S... SOMEONE THERE I NEED TO VISIT. SOMEONE VERY SPECIAL.”

Bonnie bit her lip, and nodded. No words needed to be spoken.

She understood.

* * *

 

The following days were filled with a typical summer heat as the sun shone bright over the whole country. That wasn’t a problem to Papyrus – he didn’t feel heat neither cold, which proved to be useful in a number of ways. He couldn’t burn himself with fire in the kitchen during his work, and he could use the trendy winter clothes basically the whole year, if he wanted to. Still, there was something cool about just wearing simple t-shirts and jeans in the summer.

Sometimes, less meant more – at least, modern fashion worked that way, in Papyrus’ opinion.

A week had passed since the skeleton set off on his not-so-little journey back to Ebott, and he was about halfway through. The sun was exactly above his head as he drove in the highway, and when his stomach ( _stomach_?) gave a weird growl, he noticed he was hungry and decided to stop for lunch at the first establishment he would come across.

Said establishment happened to be a rather regular-looking café named... “Café”. That couldn’t be good, but he was really hungry, and as he parked the car in front of the place, he came to the conclusion he really didn’t mind.

That conclusion didn’t last two seconds, for the moment Papyrus entered the café his eyes immediately set on a dark stain on the floor. Fighting his “cleaning maniac” personality trait with all his might, he decided to press on. He took a deep breath before averting his eyes from the stain and walking to the nearest empty table.

There were few people in the place – and the skeleton decided to pay no mind to any of them. He was aware of the stares though – the stares that always followed him wherever he went. Sometimes they was easy to stand, other times – and unfortunately, this was one of them – it was almost unbearable. He wasn’t sure why.

A waitress approached his table – she wore a black apron, looked to be in her twenties, and her face had a pretty bad case of pimples.

“What you wanna?”, she asked, blowing a pink bubble gum.

That was certainly not... _professional_ , for the lack of a better word – but her uninterested manner was almost comforting for Papyrus in the moment, specially since he felt everyone else in the room was with their eyes fixed on him, like he was a ticking time bomb.

“UH...”, he began, glancing a look to the menu at the table. He hadn’t checked it. “DO YOU HAVE... SPAGHETTI?”

The bubble gum bursted, and the waitress picked it back from her face with her tongue.

“We only have steak.”

“OH, OK! STEAK IT IS, THEN!”

“Alright.”, she said in a monotone voice, taking a note. “But we warn you our stove is kinda lame, and sometimes it burns the outside of the steak while the inside remains raw. But sometimes it turns out alright, I guess. You okay with that?”

No.

“YES I’M OKAY THANK YOU!”, he replied in one breath.

The waitress walked away, and Papyrus looked down to the table. There was a yellow stain in there too, and it looked _days_ old. He averted his eyes, thinking that trip was being a test of limits for him, in a lot of ways.

He missed home. He missed MK and the human. The three of them had been almost inseparable for the past three years – and they had made so many good memories since then. Sometimes – only sometimes – it was almost like the scars created by the war didn’t exist. Like it had all been just a bad dream.

But no, it was real. Sometimes, _too_ real. The nightmares got fewer and fewer as time passed, but he still had them occasionally. Sounds of gunshots. Sans’ body crumbling, helpless, in front of him. And he always woke up gasping for air, feeling the adrenaline running high on him.

The skeleton found himself staring at his phone screen – opened in an instant messaging app, the contacts from the human and MK right on top. _God_ , he missed them. But he couldn’t talk to them – not yet. If he did, he was afraid he would turn around and go back before he reached Mt. Ebott. And he needed to do that – for his own sake.

He blocked the phone screen once more.

“ _Papyrus_? Is that you?”, a female voice said next to his table.

The skeleton looked up, a bit surprised. The woman talking to him held a tiny human – a baby – and her smile got even bigger when she noticed it was, indeed, Papyrus the one she had met.

“It _is_ you! Of all the places we could’ve met!”, she exclaimed. “You remember me?”

Papyrus awkwardly got up – yes, that voice and face weren’t strange to him. That straight brown hair and those green eyes... he had seen them before, for sure.

“UM... CLAIRE?”, he said, a bit unsure.

She nodded with energy.

“Yes, yes! I can’t believe it, it’s so nice to see you!”, she said, making a movement with her arm to hold the baby in a better position.

Claire was part of a resistance group that had settled in a town near Ebott during the war – the same group that Papyrus joined during the brief time when he left MK and the human in a fit of anger. It had been one of the hardest times of his life, but it didn’t take long for everyone on the group to grow fond of him – Claire included.

“IT’S NICE TO SEE YOU TOO, CLAIRE!”, he commented, smiling naturally. “WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?”

Claire rolled her eyes and looked back to a man who was by the cashier, probably paying for his meal.

“My husband thought it was a good idea to stop here for lunch.”, she said, looking back to Papyrus. “Word of advice: don’t order the steak.”

“OH... OKAY!”, the skeleton replied, a sinking feeling growing inside him.

“We’re traveling to see my mother, so she can meet little Lucas here for the first time.”, she inclined the baby for Papyrus to have a look. “Say hello to Papy, Lucas!”, she said in a goofy voice.

Lucas seemed to be several months old, but still under a year or so. They fixed their eyes on the skeleton and their lips curled into a very tiny smile, and Papyrus cocked his head, amused.

“WOWIE! WHAT A TINY HUMAN!”

Claire gave a youthful, hearty laugh – and Lucas let out a cute vocalization with his cute, baby voice. Meanwhile, Claire’s husband approached.

“Sorry ‘bout the wait.”, he said, looking at his wife and then at Papyrus. “And who’s that?”

There was only the slightest hint of hostility on the man’s voice, but by that time the skeleton was used to people directing themselves to him like that.

“Oh, right! Papyrus, this is Ethan, my husband.”, she introduced. “Ethan – Papyrus the skeleton, as you can see. We met during the war.”, she looked at Papyrus in a way someone would look after being reunited with a friend they had not seen in a long time. “Back then, he saved my life.”

“AW, CLAIRE, YOU DON’T...”

“But I do! I don’t know if I would be here if you hadn’t joined our group back then...”, she said. Lucas made another sound, and she began gently shaking him in her arms.

“Well, in that case, it’s nice to meet you, Papyrus.”, said Ethan, offering a handshake. The hostile tone diminished significantly, but it was still there (“ _do anything funny and you’re dead_.”)

“Monsters are beginning to live in the surface now, right?”, commented Claire. “Thanks to the ‘Angel’. Still, we don’t see that many roaming around yet.”

Papyrus scratched the back of his skull.

“WE AREN’T _THAT_ MANY, TO BEGIN WITH!”, he said. “WHEN I LEARNED THERE ARE SEVEN BILLION HUMANS ON EARTH, I KIND OF FREAKED OUT!”

“I just knew Papyrus would be allowed to live in the surface right away!”, said Claire, looking to Ethan. “But what about you?”, she directed to Papyrus. “What are you doing here?”

“I’M TRAVELING, TOO!”, the skeleton replied. “I’M GOING TO THE TOWN NEAR MT. EBOTT, YOU KNOW? I’M... VISITING SOMEONE THERE.”

Claire glanced a weird look at him for a moment – of course, Mt. Ebott hadn’t been the most popular place to visit during the past few years, and Papyrus was being pretty vague with his motives. For a moment, he feared she would press on the matter.

“That’s cool!”, she simply said. “Well, we should be going now. Don’t want to spoil your lunch now, do we?”

Ethan snorted a laugh.

“Yeah... the food here is actually fine, man.”, said Ethan. “Just don’t order the steak and you’ll be okay.”

“OH, I WOULDN’T _THINK_ OF IT!”, said Papyrus, his voice cracking a bit. He coughed.

Both Claire and Ethan looked at each other and laughed.

“Good to see you, Papyrus!”, Claire said as they both began walking towards the exit. She picked Lucas’ tiny hand and motioned a goodbye wave with it. “Have a nice trip, Papy!”, she said in that goofy voice again.

“Bye, Papyrus!”, said Ethan.

And they were gone.

But Papyrus was left feeling a lot better, actually. Meeting Claire was a reminder that the war had been real – but it also reminded him how kind people could be. It reminded him how it was possible to be accepted in the surface – no matter how much of a slow process it was.

The waitress came with the steak immediately afterwards – but, for some reason, Papyrus didn’t even notice how burnt it was.

* * *

 

_“SANS?”_

_As Papyrus got into the kitchen, he caught sight of his brother sitting by the table, holding their head with their hands, a mug steaming with something hot next to them._

_He gulped, holding the papers in his hands with force, to the point they almost screwed up. He didn’t remember hearing Sans coming home the previous night._

_The older skeleton raised his head a bit and looked to Papyrus, his pupils blinking, as if he was having difficult focalizing his younger brother._

_“oh...”, he mumbled, his voice hoarse. “hey, pap. slept well?”_

_There was a casual tone in his voice, like everything was alright, and Papyrus hated it. The younger skeleton looked down to him, feelings of anger, pity and sadness all storming inside. That situation had been going for far too long – and nothing was alright._

_“YOU’VE BEEN DRINKING.”, he said, and it wasn’t a question. “AGAIN.”_

_Sans moved in their chair, averting their eyes, and took the mug – Papyrus saw it was actually filled with hot water. He glanced a look to the kitchen counter and saw a closed pack of coffee. Apparently, Sans had forgotten to open it – but he didn’t seem to mind as he actually took a sip from the water._

_“WHEN DID YOU GET HOME?”_

_The older skeleton put the mug down._

_“dunno.”, he said, in a monotone, bored voice. “an hour ago, i guess.”_

_“WHAT!?”_

_“c’mon, pap, what’s the surprise?”, Sans sounded annoyed. “i’ve done this before, i’m 23, i can take care of myself.”_

_Papyrus clenched his fist – the one that wasn’t holding the papers, feeling an unknown type of anger surging inside him._

_“YOU SAID YOU WERE GOING TO STOP!”, he said, his voice quivering a little._

_Sans gave an emotionless chuckle and took the mug up again._

_“that was before i became unemployed.”_

_“‘BECAME UNEMPLOYED’!?”, the younger skeleton exclaimed. “IT WAS YOU WHO QUIT THE JOB!”_

_Sans kept looking at him over the mug as he took another sip._

_“so what? in practical terms, it’s the same thing.”, he said, not taking the mug down._

_Papyrus hit his clenched fist on the table and grabbed Sans’ arm that held the mug with the other – the papers getting even more screwed up in the process – and forcefully pushed it down to the table again._

_“STOP DRINKING HOT WATER, THIS IS NOT NORMAL!”, he yelled, his voice with a hysteric note. “GOD, SANS, THIS IS NOT NORMAL! WHAT’S GOING ON WITH YOU!?”_

_But Sans’ eye sockets had turned dark._

_“let. me. go.”_

_But the voice that came out from Sans was unlike anything Papyrus had heard – it wasn’t that deep, goofy, familiar voice he had ever since his teen years, but cold and dangerous. Papyrus shivered – Sans had never directed himself in that way before – in fact, even when the younger skeleton misbehaved as a kid, Sans had never lost his temper, never raised his voice._

_He let go; the older skeleton’s eye sockets reappeared – and they looked devastated._

_“oh, damn, i’m sorry papyrus.”, said Sans, putting his head in his hands again. “shouldn’t have talked to you like that, bro, i’m sorry, i’m sorry, i’m sorry...”_

_And they let out a hiccup, their shoulders shaking, leaving Papyrus utterly baffled – he had never seen his brother cry before. In a second, all the anger inside him seemed to melt, and he only felt sadness for Sans._

_“NO... I WAS THE ONE WHO YELLED AT YOU, I’M THE ONE WHO SHOULD BE SORRY.”, he said, sitting down on the chair next to Sans. “WHAT’S GOING ON, BROTHER? YOU’RE SCARING ME...”_

_Sans stubbornly shook his head._

_“‘m sorry... you can’t help me, pap. if you could, i’d tell you, but you can’t.”_

_Papyrus put his hand on Sans’ shoulder in a supportive manner – a gesture his brother himself did many times when Papyrus was younger and had a bad day._

_“WHY DON’T YOU JUST... TRY, THEN?”_

_Sans looked at Papyrus for what seemed to be a long, long moment, and then looked back at his mug without saying a word._

_“SO?”_

_“just forget about it.”_

_The younger skeleton took his hand away from his brother’s shoulder, a bitter taste in his mouth. That was how Sans was – all fun and jokes until it wasn’t. And then, they’d close themselves away, not letting anyone in to help them. Not even their family – not even Papyrus._

_He sighed, resigned, and looked down to the screwed up papers he was still holding – and it was like someone had flicked a switch, a little light, inside his soul._

_“SANS, I’VE BEEN THINKING...”_

_The older skeleton lazily turned his head to Papyrus, who in turn smoothed the papers out on the table._

_“WE SHOULD MOVE FROM THIS PLACE.”_

_Sans’ mouth immediately curled into that characteristic smile he always wore when he heard a good joke, but his eyes still betrayed how he was really feeling._

_“move?”, he said, slowly. “c’mon, papyrus, we can’t move...”_

_“I THINK IT WOULD DO BOTH OF US GOOD.”_

_Sans didn’t reply to that, and after some awkward seconds Papyrus coughed and leaned against the table, looking at one of the papers._

_“THERE’S THIS NICE LITTLE PLACE CALLED ‘SNOWDIN TOWN’.”, he pulled the paper a bit closer so Sans could read it. “IT HAS, UH, SNOW, AND A GOOD NEIGHBORHOOD. THERE’S A HOUSE FOR SALE IN THERE, AND I THOUGHT, MAYBE... IT WOULD BE A NICE CHANGE FROM THIS TINY APARTMENT.”_

_Sans kept looking to the paper – a really cute ad for the house on sale at Snowdin, two floors, wooden made, that looked like something taken out directly from a Christmas tale._

_“that’s really nice, pap.”, he finally said. “really. but look at how much it costs! this is almost all our savings, and i’m unemployed, and we can’t start spending money like that...”_

_When he heard that, Papyrus couldn’t help but smile – feeling his usual confidence and cheer coming back to him._

_“I’VE ALREADY THOUGHT ABOUT THAT!”, he said, excited. “DO YOU REMEMBER MY FRIEND, UNDYNE?”_

_Sans looked at him for a moment._

_“the fish girl?”_

_Papyrus’ eye socket twitched – he wondered what would be Undyne’s reaction if someone called her “fish girl” in front of her._

_“YES, THE FISH GIRL.”, he replied, quite dryly. “ANYWAY, YOU KNOW SHE’S THE HEAD OF THE ROYAL GUARD, RIGHT?”_

_Sans nodded and Papyrus, with his hands trembling a bit, pulled the other two papers close – they were screwed up, but fortunately were still readable._

_“SHE GAVE US PERMISSION TO START WORKING WITH THE ROYAL GUARD RIGHT AWAY!”, he said, a childlike wonder in his voice. “AS SENTRIES! OKAY, WE WON’T BE REALLY ROYAL GUARD MEMBERS YET, BUT WE CAN GET IN THERE IN THE FUTURE, IF WE WORK HARD!”_

_Sans’ pupils actually lit up and he looked to the papers – actually, application forms to start a sentry job – with doubled attention._

_“whoa...”, he said, his voice genuinely surprised. “did you... did you get us jobs!?”_

_“YES! AND THE BEST PART IS THAT, IF WE WORK AS SENTRIES, WE CAN GET A VERY GENEROUS DISCOUNT WITH THE HOUSE! SO WHAT DO YOU SAY?”_

_Sans put his hand on his forehead, as if having difficulty processing what he had been just told._

_“wait, wait...”, he said, looking at Papyrus. “wouldn’t you have to be at least eighteen to be allowed to work as a sentry?”_

_The younger skeleton kept smiling, but inside he felt a bit hurt with that comment._

_“I... I AM EIGHTEEN.”, he said, looking away. “MY BIRTHDAY WAS LAST WEEK.”_

_An uncomfortable silence fell upon the two, and Papyrus could almost hear Sans cursing himself in his mind._

_“shit.”, he simply said._

_“SWEAR.”, replied Papyrus in an automatic fashion._

_“i’m sorry, pap.”_

_“APOLOGY ACCEPTED.”_

_“and happy birthday.”_

_“THANK YOU VERY MUCH, BROTHER.”_

_Sans had never forgotten Papyrus’ birthday before – and that was something, considering he sometimes forgot even his own birthday. But Papyrus couldn’t help but immediately forgive him when they looked at each other again – they really did love each other, even if their relationship had been full of complicated moments lately._

_Sans smiled and looked to the papers again – he seemed to be filled with an energy Papyrus had not seen in him in a long, long time. The younger skeleton felt a lot better seeing his brother cheering up._

_“so... snowdin town people: you better brace yourselves, ‘cause the skeleton bros are coming!”_

* * *

 

If MK and the human tried to avoid entering forests whenever they could, Papyrus had an entirely different vision on the matter. He liked forests – they had protected him during difficult times and were his shelter on a time he had been completely broken, both in mind and soul.

Still, maybe it wasn’t such a good idea to wander in that forest alone in the middle of the night. As he turned around, shining his flashlight behind him, he wished he had waited until morning to explore the woods near Mt. Ebott. It wasn’t like they would get anywhere, right?

But he was just so close – he simply didn’t resist the temptation of leaving the hostel he was staying in for the night to actually go there, against all recommendations (his own included). He even left his backpack there, and only took a handful of things in his pockets.

He couldn’t see the city lights anymore, which meant he was really deep into the forest. He turned around again – the forest wasn’t too closed and he could see the legendary Mt. Ebott if he looked over the tree tops. Well, he wasn’t really far from where he wanted to go, so he decided to just press on.

He walked a bit further and stopped, pulling a pocket map from the region up and shining the flashlight beam over it, so he could read it. Hmmmm... the ground all around the mountain foot looked about the same – how was he supposed to find the place he was looking for?

He kept walking forward for some time (ten minutes? an hour?), until he suddenly stopped, a weird sensation growing inside him. He flashed the flashlight all around him, trying to recognize his surroundings. He approached a tree, touched its trunk, took a deep breath.

He was around the same spot he was when he reunited with MK and the human once again. More than three years had passed since. Whoa, had so much time really passed? He was _really_ getting old.

He remembered how overcast the sky was that day – and how it rained throughout all night, too. Tonight, however, things couldn’t be more different – the weather was nice and the sky was clear, giving Papyrus perhaps the vision of the most starry night he had ever seen in his life. He smiled – maybe it was a sign. Maybe he was really meant to go find the place he had been looking for in that particular night.

He walked a bit further, and the trees got more sparse, the forest ground giving place to the hard mountain ground. He was at the foot of Mt. Ebott, but what would he do next?

Being next to that mountain made Papyrus feel weird – he became extremely aware that he was really close to the Underground. Maybe there were monsters passing by right beneath his feet, and they’d probably have no idea of that. If he decided to climb the mountain, it wouldn’t take long for him to find human-made barriers, technology and special forces all guarding the Underground’s entrance.

Luckily, the place he wanted to find wasn’t anywhere up in the mountain – quite the contrary, it was by its foot.

He marched on, walking around the mountain, shining the flashlight over the stone walls. It wasn’t hard terrain to walk over – he could understand how the human, still a child, managed to find the Underground all those years ago... how many years? _Ten_?

Geez, he needed to stop thinking about time. He felt _ancient_.

There, he found it – the cave he, MK and the human camped into in that same day they were reunited and shared their stories of what they had gone through. He stood by its entrance, a silly smile appearing on his expression. That day flipped his world upside down – that day when he learned about resets, timelines, and how Sans knew it all.

His hand automatically went for his pocket, grabbing a piece of paper he had been carrying with him during that whole trip – the letter. Every time he thought about Sans, he’d go for the letter – it made him feel a little closer to them and evoked good childhood memories he had. He and Sans sharing a meal. Sans comforting him after a tough day in school. Sure, his childhood hadn’t been easy by any means, but he wouldn’t trade those moments he had with his brother for nothing in the world. Nothing. 

He turned around, shaking his head to snap out of his thoughts. He had found the cave – which meant he was close. Really close.

He walked back to where the forest ground began to mend with the mountain ground – there were some trees there. He looked at them, touched their trunks – they all seemed about the same. He decided to look at the ground instead, starting to feel afraid if he wouldn’t find it, and that it would all have been for nothing.

That was when he found two bones – one of them broken, on the ground next to one of the trees.

He felt his soul leaping inside his body and he crouched down, putting his hand on the ground. Yes – it felt different from the ground around it.

Like it had been caved.

When the realization hit him, he froze in place, his hand still resting over the ground.

“HELLO, BROTHER.”, he said with a faint quiver on his voice.

He let himself sit on the ground in front of that particular spot of soil and hugged his own legs, looking at the bones over there. He had summoned them in a cross formation to mark the place when they made that burying ceremony for Sans three years before. At the time, he didn’t understand why he did that – it just felt appropriate, even if apparently it didn’t stand the test of time. 

Well, it was the intention that counted, right?

“I CAME TO VISIT.”, he hesitantly continued. “WERE YOU FEELING LONELY HERE?”

He kept looking to the patch of soil – that particular spot where Sans’ dust lay to rest underneath – almost as if expecting an answer. A fresh, pleasant breeze blew instead, making the foliage from the trees rustle softly.

The skeleton fumbled inside his pocket and took the special present he had brought to the occasion – a bottle of ketchup, Sans’ favorite brand. He looked at it for a while, smiling with nostalgia. When they moved to Snowdin Town, Sans stopped drinking alcohol and switched to ketchup – surely, a healthier habit (maybe), but one Papyrus liked to pick on nonetheless.

“I BROUGHT THIS TO YOU!”, he said, placing the ketchup bottle over the patch of soil, next to the bones. “THEY HAVE A LOT OF THIS HERE ON THE SURFACE! SEE, I WASN’T WRONG – HUMANS _DO_ DRINK A LOT OF KETCHUP! NYEH HEH HEH!”

He laughed, but his voice sounded different – it had a new layer of melancholy that wasn’t there before. Or maybe it had always been there ever since the day his brother passed away, and he just hadn’t noticed it. He looked down, pensive, before fumbling inside his pocket once again. When his hand came out, holding the letter – the last thing Sans had left him – it was trembling a bit.

“I GOT YOUR MESSAGE.”, he said, looking to the envelope. “THE HUMAN GAVE IT TO ME AFTER THE WAR WAS OVER. HE FOUND IT ON YOUR STUFF – OH, AND DON’T WORRY, HE DIDN’T READ IT! HE’S... HE’S A GOOD BOY.”

Then, he remembered how much time had passed since he had met the human for the first time.

“A GOOD _MAN_.”, he corrected, hacking.

He tightened the grasp of the letter – in the dark, he couldn’t see it, but he knew the words “ _to papyrus_ ” were written on the envelope. By now, he knew the whole letter by heart – even the parts Sans tried to poorly conceal or change – as he had read it many times over the past three years.

“SANS... WHEN I READ THIS LETTER, I KNEW I HAD TO COME BACK HERE.”, he started. “TO TELL YOU... I FORGIVE YOU. FOR EVERYTHING. EVEN FOR THE THINGS YOU WERE TOO PROUD TO ASK FOR FORGIVENESS.”

The wind blew again, and Papyrus hugged his legs more tightly.

“SO, WE’RE NOT BIOLOGICAL BROTHERS...”, he kept going. “I’M NOT GOING TO LIE, SANS... I _DID_ HAVE MY SUSPICIONS, BUT I NEVER INQUIRED YOU ABOUT IT BECAUSE... WELL, I GUESS I WAS AFRAID TOO.”

Now that Papyrus thought about it, he remembered he had never really asked Sans about their parents – or if they remembered anything about them. His brother would surely have been embarrassed if he did so – and they probably expected him to inquire about it one day... but that day never came. For Papyurs, it didn’t feel necessary. For the longest time, he had Sans – he _only_ had Sans – and it had been just the two of them.

“BUT THAT’S STUPID, RIGHT? BECAUSE IT’S LIKE YOU SAID IT IN THE LETTER! BIOLOGICAL OR NOT, WE’RE BROTHERS! WE’RE FAMILY! WE’LL ALWAYS BE.”

The skeleton glanced a look to the envelope before inclining and placing it next to the ketchup bottle and the bones. A little part of him felt sad for letting go of the letter, but he was mostly relieved for doing that. It felt like a natural thing to do – like putting the final mark at the end of a sentence.

“THE HUMAN AND MK ARE DOING JUST FINE. THEY’VE GROWN UP A LOT SINCE THE WAR.”, he said, giving a small chuckle. “WE’RE... WE’RE HAPPY.”

Or, to put it in better terms, they were _learning_ to be happy. They hadn’t forgotten the nightmares – the ghost of a war that destroyed so many lives, living in their closets. But, day by day, that ghost seemed less like a horrifying beast and more like a natural part in them. A scar that they couldn’t erase, but could live with.

“THINGS ARE GETTING BETTER.”

And that was undoubtedly true. 

He looked up without really thinking – he was facing the mountain, but he could see a good portion of the nightsky in his position, and the lights from the millions of stars above once again engulfed the skeleton in their wonder. A memory – a single, very happy memory – was brought back by his mind. He was thirteen or fourteen when Sans, who had just been assigned as the royal scientist’s pupil, took him to that cave in Waterfall – the one with a thousand shiny stones that mimicked stars. Papyrus was amazed by it, and when Sans told him the real sky at the surface was bigger and the stars brighter, he actually thought they were just pulling his leg, like usual.

“THE STARS ARE BEAUTIFUL HERE, SANS.”, he commented. “JUST LIKE YOU SAID.”

And he felt a sting, right in his soul, because he wished, more than ever, that his brother could be there with him. But it was a good pain – because missing Sans didn’t make him feel bad anymore. It gave him the reassuring feeling that he had loved them very, very much – fraternally and unconditionally – and that Sans knew it. They knew it. Papyrus was sure they did. 

“I THINK...” he said, after a while. “I THINK THIS IS A NICE PLACE. YOU’RE NOT ALONE OUT HERE, AFTER ALL.”

Maybe it was just Papyrus’ imagination, but the stars seemed to flash a brighter light when he said that.

And somewhere – somewhere else, at that exact same time – Frisk and MK were home, watching one of those simple, stupid fun 80’s comedy shows, and snarking at how bad the storylines were; Bonnie and Berna made plans for their new bakery while Boone played videogames on his new computer; Claire and Ethan sat on the living room with the former’s mother, chatting and playing with the new member of the family, Lucas. And, just like Papyrus, a few more than a thousand monsters that were already living on the surface all looked to the beautiful night sky, all filled with determination and the assurance that better days were yet to come.

Because the future seemed just as bright as the stars in the sky above, and that night was the starriest one they had ever seen – in that timeline, or in any other.

* * *

  **THE END**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh, god, it's done. I can't believe it. 
> 
> After nearly seven months of writing, the Sometimes series comes to an end.
> 
> Thank you from the bottom of my heart to all of you who read this from beginning to end. Those of you who bookmarked, left kudos and comments: you were the ones who motivated me to keep going and stay determined. So thank you.
> 
> Special thanks to BlackRazorBill for their endless support with the series. I'm honored that such a great writer and artist enjoyed this!
> 
> After being involved with this for so long, I intend on taking a break from writing – but if you wanna keep updated on what I'm doing (and eventual new and future fanfics/other projects), consider following me on Tumblr: @overratedjoe.
> 
> Read some of my thoughts on the series here: https://overratedjoe.tumblr.com/post/159206013986/sometimes-it-ends
> 
> See you around!


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